






























































































LETTERS 


TO THE 

RIGHT HONOURABLE 


L, 0R ID HviWKESM URY 3 

AKl) TO THE 

RIGHT HONOURABLE 

JIEJVRY .1 D D 1JYGTOJV, 

ON THE 

PEACE WITH BUONAPARTE, 


TO WHICH rs ADDED, 

AN APPENDIX, 


Containing a Collection (now greatly enlarged) of all the Conventions, 
Treaties, Speeches, and other Documents, 

connected with the Subject. ' ' 





* 


By WILLIAM COBBETT. 


*• They shall seek Peact , and there shall be none. Mischief shall come upon Mischief, 
“ and Rumour shall be upon Rumour: tire Law shall perish from the Priest, and the 
*• Council from the Ancients. The King shall mourn, and the Prince shall be clothed 
“ with Desolation, and the Hands of the People of the Land shall be troubled.’* 

Eziftitl, vih 25« 


SECOND EDITION. 




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L ON D 0 N: 

PUBLISHED BY COBBETT AND MORGAN, PALL-MALL. 


January, 1802 . 











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Printed by Cox, Son, & Eavlis, 
Great Queen Street. 





TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


LETTERS TO LORD HAWKESBUPtY. 
Letter 

I. Introduction — — Page f 

II. On the Conduct of the Peace-lovihg Rabble of Lon¬ 

don and Westminster, oh the iotli of October, 
1801, when they drew Buonaparte’s Aide-de-camp, 
LauRiston, in Triumph through the Streets 4 

III. On the Conduct of the pacific Mob, and their Abet¬ 

tors, during the Night of the 10th of October 14 

IV. On the shameful Abandonment of the Mediterranean, 

Egypt, Turkey, and Italy — 36 

V. On the Dangers to which the Peace will expose our 
East and West India Colonies 54 

Vi. On the Aggrandizement of France, with respect to 
Territory, Population, Resources, and military 
and naval Strength — 69 

VII. On the Danger which will arise to England from 
the Extension of the Sea-Coast of France.—The 
Necessity there was of rendering Holland indepen¬ 
dent.—The Means which the British Ministry pos¬ 
sessed of effecting that desirable Object ^4 

A a 





CONTENTS. 


Letter 

VIII. General Reflections on the Embarrassments and the 
Loss, which the Commerce of Britain will expe*- 
rience inconsequence of the disadvantageous Terms 
of the Peace.— Postscript, containing an Ex¬ 
tract from a French Publication, proving the am¬ 
bitious and hostile Views of France Page 102 
IX. Recapitulation.—Enquiry into the Reasons why the 
Peace was made.—Arguments in Favour of a Con¬ 
tinuance of die War.—Conclusion — 121 

LETTERS TO MR. ADDINGTON. 

I. On the Danger to which our West India Colonies 
will be exposed, in consequence of the Peace 149 

II. On the approaching Diminution of our Com¬ 
merce — — — 170 

III. On ihe approaching Decline of our Manufac¬ 
tures — — — 230 


APPENDIX, 

A. —Notes presented to the French Government by 

M. Kalitscheff, the Russian Minister at 
Paris — — — Page i 

B. —Convention of St. Petersburgh, between England 

andRussia, concluded June 5th (17th), 1801 iv 

C. —Treaty of Badajos. Treaty of Peace between Spain 

and Portugal, concluded at Badajos, June 6th, 
1801 — — —• xiv 

D. —Treaty of Downing-Street. Preliminary Articles 

of Peace, between England and France, signed 
at London, October 1, 1801 — xix 



CONTENTS. 


E.—Treaty of Paris. Treaty of Peace between France 
and Russia, concluded at Paris, October 8, 
i Ho I — — — Page xxiv 

l 7 .—Treaty of Paris. Preliminary Treaty of Peace be¬ 
tween France and the Ottoman Porte, signed 
at Paris, 9th October, 1801 — xxvi 

G. —Treaty of Madrid. Treaty of Peace between 

France and Portugal, concluded at Madrid, Sept. 
29th, i8ci — — — xxviii 

H. —Ministerial Declarations respecting the Treaty be¬ 

tween France and Portugal, signed at Madrid, 
29th September, 1801. — — xxxil 

I. — Exposition of the Principles of the Treaty of Ma¬ 

drid, as laid down by Defermont, Counsel¬ 
lor of State, in his Speech to the Legislative 
Body, on the 30th of November, 1801 xliv 

K. —Mr. Addington’s Declaration respecting the 

Treaty between France and Portugal, signed at 
Madrid, 29th September, 1801 — liv 

L. —Mr. Addington’s Declaration respecting the 

Plea of Necessity — — Ivi 

M. —Mr. Addington’s Answer respecting the sailing 

of the French Fleet and Army — lxiii 

N. —Extract from Lord Hawkesbury’s Speech in 

the House of Commons, the 3d of November, 
1801 — • — — — lxvii 

O. —BuoSkparte’s Proclamation, issued in the Arabic 

Language, on his landing in Egypt — Ixix 
p. —Extracts from Speeches of Messrs. Pitt and Fox, 
and Lord Hawkesbury, respecting Buona¬ 
parte, and Peace with France — lxxii 


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LETTERS 

TO THE 

RIGHT HONOURABLE 

I, ORB IRA JFK JE&MURY, 

ON THE 


PEACE WITH BUONAPARTE. 




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11 



A 

SERIES of LETTERS 

to The 

RIGHT HONOURABLE 

LORD HAWKESBURY, 

&V. S(c. &'c. 


LETTER L 

Pall-Mall , 1 2 th OcL 1801 » 

My Lord, 

The Porcupine, of which I was the founder, 
and of which I am still the Proprietor*, has, ever 
since the terms of the Peace have been promulgated, 
borne a distinguished part in disapproving of those 
terms. On this important subject, it has contained 
several articles, which, while their literary merit 
have commanded the admiration, have not failed to 


* These letters were first published in The Porcupine, 
of which paper, at the date of this letter, I was still the Pro¬ 
prietor, but in which I have had no concern, either as Proprietor, 
or Conductor, since the 21st of November, 3 801. 

B 






2 


tETTfcRS TO 


awaken the fears, and to direct the opinions, of the 
public. 

By those, who are not accustomed to examine 
and compare the characteristics of style, these arti¬ 
cles have, of course, been imputed to me; and, 
while it appeared probable that they might draw 
down popular vengeance on the head of the writer, 
I scorned to make the slightest attempt to remove 
the imputation ; but, now, when the cc tumult of 
ee exultation and delirium of joy ” have somewhat 
subsided, when the citizens have suspended, for a 
time, the exercise of their cc imprescriptible rightsf 
when, in plain English, the reign of the rabble has 
given place to the reign of the law, now, it is my 
duty to yield this literary honour to the Gentleman, 
to whom it belongs, and to whose zeal, talents, and 
perseverance, the Church and the Monarchy of 
England owe that support, the want of which, I 
greatly fear, they will, at no very distant day, have 
occasion to lament. 

But, my Lord, though I cheerfully resign all 
the honour of writing the articles,'above alluded to, 
I resign no part of that which is to be derived from 
participating in the principles and sentiments of the 
writer. As to communications from Correspon- 

dents. 


LORD HAWKESBtTRT. 3 

dents, and little straggling paragraphs, the Conduc¬ 
tor of a paper is never looked upon as being politi¬ 
cally responsible for their contents ; but, with res¬ 
pect to the Leading Articles of The Porcupine, 
on the subject of the Peace, I do most implicitly 
subscribe to every sentiment contained in them; 
and, were I to propose an addition to any of their 
qualities, it would be to the keenness of their 
censure. 

Censure, as well as applause, if unaccompanied 
with the reasons, whereon it is founded, seldom 
produces any very lasting effect ; and, as I have 
not resumed the pen for the purpose of furnishing 
amusement for an idle hour, I shall, in the series, to 
•which this letter is merely an introduction, go at 
some length into an examination of the measure, 
which you and your colleagues have thought pro¬ 
per to adopt, and shall, unless I am very much de¬ 
ceived, most clearly prove to you, that that measure 
is not less dangerous in its consequences, than it is 
disgraceful in itself. I am. 

My Lord,, 

Your Lordship's most humble 

and most obedient Servant, 
¥m, COBBETT 


4" 


LETTERS TO 


LETTER II. 

Pall-Mall, lUh Oct. 180 L 

My Lord, . 

Before I say any thing about the more distant, 
though inevitable, effects of the Treaty, which you 
have signed, I think it necessary to take some no¬ 
tice of those effects, which the bare knowledge of 
its existence has already produced, and brought 
home to our doors.. 

It requires no very great degree of penetration 
to discover, that your Lordship would gladly draw 
a''veil over the scandalous occurrences of the last 
seven days, particularly those of Saturday. Nor 
should I have much objection to follow your exam - 
pie, were I not well persuaded, that every attempt 
to disguise our situation will only tend to accelerate 
the consummation of our ruin. 

From the moment that it was resolved (for what 
reasons you and Mr. Addington, and Mr, Pitt 
best can tell) to make Peace, every one at all con¬ 
nected or acquainted with the press, could perceive 
the uncommon pains that had been taken to prepare 
the public - for a favourable reception of whatever 


terms 



LORD HAWKESBURY. 


5 


terms Buonaparte might be prevailed on to grant, 
and to give a Ministerial direction to the popular 
applause, which it was . easy to foresee would be 
excited by any Peace, however injurious and dis¬ 
honourable to the country. When, therefore, it 
was perceived, that the signing of the Prelimi¬ 
naries occasioned what the most servile of all the 
servile echoes of the Treasury was pleased to term, 
the “ tumult of exultation and delirium of joy,” it 
was fondly imagined, in the regions of Whitehall, 
that the measure had completely answered its pur¬ 
pose ; that the Ministers would now be supported 
by the unanimous voice of the nation, and would 
be immoveably fixed in the enjoyment of their places, 
an object which some people are ill-natured or 
ignorant enough to regard as not the least impor¬ 
tant of the Treaty. 

Leaving this uncharitable suspicion to be re¬ 
moved by a continuation of that disinterestedness, 
which has hitherto so strongly marked the character 
of the present Administration, I shall now proceed 
to lay before your Lordship, a narrative of facts, 
which will clearly convince you, that no part of 
the admiration and gratitude, inspired by the Peace, 
falls to the lot of you and your Colleagues. 


On 


6 


LETTERS TO 


On Friday last (the 9 th of October), the Rati¬ 
fication of the Preliminary Treaty was brought to 
Dover, by Citizen Lauriston. The people of 
Dover, like those of other places, had, previously 
to the arrival of this mao* expressed their joy at the 
return of Peace, without passing, however, any 
commendations on those who had made it; but, th'e 
moment this Citizen set his foot on shore, the mo¬ 
ment this harbinger of happiness arrived from the 
land of liberty, where the holy right of insurrection 
had been exercised with such memorable success, 
the whole nation seemed to be drunk with delight. 
The Citizen was drawn through all the towns from 
Dover to London, by the two-legged beasts inha¬ 
biting those towns. Notwithstanding this interrupt 
tion, he arrived here time enough in the evening to 
have waited on your Lordship; but he very pru¬ 
dently deferred his visit.till the next morning, when 
a fresh set of Citizens stood ready to serve him in 
the .capacity of horses or asses, of which he did them 
the honour very graciously to accept. Being seated 
in the coach with Citizen Otto, and another per¬ 
son, of whom I shall speak hereafter, the beasts 
drew him down Bond-street, down St. James’s- 
street, to the front of the King’s Palace, where 

they 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 


they stopped and gave him the cheer of tri¬ 
umph. They next drew him along Pall-Mall to 
the Prince of Wales’s Palace, where they repeated 
their plaudits. Your Lordship must remember his 
triumphal entry into your Office in Do wiring-street, 
and, I believe, very few are disposed to envy you 
your feelings on the occasion. He was next drawn 
to the Admiralty, where it is hard to conceive what 
business he could have, unless it were to witness 
the humiliation of England, on the very spot, whence 
had issued the orders for the humiliation of France. 
Lord St. Vincent gave him a very polite reception, 
and, giving the appellation of “ gentlemen” to the 
wretches who were dragging the carriage, request¬ 
ed them to be tc careful of the strangers, and not 
“ overturn them ” to which a fellow amongst the 
crowd replied : “ Never you trouble your head 
cf about that; take care zve don't overturn somebody 
“ else” He was drawrn to the Horse-Guards, 
through which the soldiers, participating, I suppose, 
.in the feelings of all around them, suffered the car¬ 
riage to enter the Park, and to pass on to St. James's 
through the Mall, a road exclusively appropriated 
to the carriages of the Royal Family. I purpose- 
Iv omit a description of the Citizen’s visit to the 

Duke 


& LETTERS T 6 

iDuke of York, and of the reception given to hiitl 
by his Royal Highness, sincerely wishing that I 
could hide them for ever from the knowledge of the 
world. , 

When the Citizen arrived at his lodgings, 
the brutes who had drawn him, and those who 
had followed his triumphal car, pressed round the 
door, to see and to salute him. Those who came 
within reach of him, kissed his hands, his jacket, 
his pantaloons, and his boots; those who were not 
able to get at any part of his precious person, went 
on their knees and kissed the stones he had walked 
upon; while others were obliged to content them¬ 
selves with slobbering the coach and the poor un¬ 
fortunate horses, who, when they passed my door, 
seemed ashamed to accompany the beasts that had 
usurped their office. 

The act of taking off the horses and drawing a 
man’s carriage, is nothing new in the history of 
popular phrenzy; but, for Englishmen to bestow 
this highest mark of admiration and love on a 
Frenchman , is something new; and it clearly Indi¬ 
cates such a change in the sentiments and affections 
of the people, as must fill every reflecting mind with 
the most serious apprehension. Those who cannot 

bear 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 9 

bear to look danger in the face, would fain per¬ 
suade us, that this disgusting scene was not the 
effect of any settled partiality, but was a mere 
momentary ebullition of joy at the return of Peace, 
and at the prospect of Plenty! But* if so, how comes 
it that this joy did not break forth sooner ? How 
comes it that no such mark of popular gratitude 
was bestowed on Mr. Addington, on your Lord- 
ship, or on Mr. Pitt? Every man in London 
knows, that you made the Peace: every one has read 
your elegant letter to the Lord Mayor, and has 
seen your name at the foot of the Treaty itself 
yet, my Lord, have your horses been suffered to 
draw you along very quietly, and without the least 
danger of the rivalship of the mob. During this 
War, how many Commanders have returned to Eng¬ 
land covered with glory; yet, not one of them, nor 
all of them put together, have received, from the 
people of England, a thousandth part of the caresses, 
which they bestowed on a Frenchman, who brought 
them the terms of a Peace, acknowledged by them¬ 
selves to be disgraceful to their country. 

It is, indeed, very true, that Citizen Lauris- 
ton was, by people in general, taken to be one of 
C the 


10 LETTERS TO 

the brotfah's of Buonaparte, which (how r ever un¬ 
pleasant the fact may be) was certainly one cause 
of the popular adoration; but, the real truth is, 
that nine-tenths of the lower orders of the people, 
saw in Citizen Lauriston, not merely a Buona¬ 
parte, nor a Frenchman, but a republican, a le¬ 
veller, one of that nation who have murdered a 
King, a Queen, a Prince, and a Princess; who 
have stripped the Nobles of their titles, and rifled 
the treasures of the rich; who have abolished 
tithes, and driven the Clergy into exile; who have, 
in short, made distinction and property of every 
species change hands; who have raised the vile and 
the poor upon the ruins of rank and of fortune. The 
people here look upon the present French as a na¬ 
tion of poor men , who, after a long and arduous strug¬ 
gle, have recovered the possession of that property, 
and of all those other good things, which the great and 
the rich had, for centuries, unjustly with-held from 
them. They therefore rejoice at the Peace, because 
they hope, with him who promises very fair to be 
their leader, that the Peace will soon enable them 
“ to follow the glorious example.” Be you assured, 
my Lord, whatever your minions may tell you to tire 

contrary. 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 11 

contrary, that this, and this alone, is the great 
cause of the “ tumult of exultation and the delirium 
of joy” 

As an apology for the nation_ , it is said, that the 
miscreants, who drew Laurxston were hired for 
the purpose. So it was said of the cut-throats of 
Paris. But, then, we naturally ask, who hired them? 
And where did the person who hired them go to find 
ten thousand wretches, base enough to participate 
in this detestable act? To say that they were hired 
by any body but the agents of France would be to 
ascribe to one part of the nation what is thus taken 
from the affections of another part; and, if the 
agents of France are already able to hire the po¬ 
pulace, in every town from Dover to London in¬ 
clusive, what may we not expect from their future 
exertions? Citizen Lauriston threw the mob a 
handful or two of guineas (“ lor de Pitt ”) 5 but 
this was rather by way of compliment than reward; 
and, in short, it must be evident to every one, that 
this story about hiring the beastly crowd, is no more 
than a very weak attempt to disguise a most shame¬ 
ful and ominous truth. 


C2 


While 


12 


LETTERS TO 


While Citizen Lauriston was exciting the 
“ tumult of exultation” in the street, a numerous 
body of Citizens (not less than two thousand,) as¬ 
sembled at the Shakespeare Tavern, were giving 
full swing to the “ delirium of joy.” In this as¬ 
sembly it was openly and loudly proclaimed, that 
the Peace was a subject of exultation, because it 
acknowledged and ratified the defeat of England 
and the triumph of the Republic of France ; because 
it established the practicability as well as the jus¬ 
tice of changing the form of a government at the 
pleasure of the people; besause it reminded the 
people of England of a right, which they had al¬ 
ways possessed, of cashiering one King , and choosing 
in his stead another whom they liked better , whether, 
a native or a foreigner ; and lastly, because it form¬ 
ed the close of a series of events, which furnished 
the people of this country with a glorious ex¬ 
ample. Those who kissed the boots of Citizen 
Lauriston, could not, perhaps, have so well ex¬ 
pressed their reasons for rejoicing at the Peace; 
but I will venture to say, that every man of them 
felt them in their full force. 


After 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 13 

After a day so passed, a disorderly and 
riotous night was naturally to be expected; but 
of that night, my Lord, the numerous and in¬ 
teresting events must form the subject of another 
Letter. 

In the mean time, I remain, 

My Lord, 

Your Lordship’s most humble 
and obedient Servant, 

W#. COBBEXL 


LETTERS TO 


H 


LETTER III. 

Pall-Mall , 1 6th Oct. 1801. 

My Lord, 

That <( self-praise is no commendation” is a 
maxim, the truth of which is universally acknow¬ 
ledged. He who has atchieved any deed of great 
national glory or utility, has no occasion to call 
upon the world to join him in rejoicing at it. Con¬ 
scious of the brilliancy of his actions, he scorns to 
have recourse to those paltry artifices, by which 
men of different conduct and inferior minds be¬ 
speak the suffrages of the ignorant and noisy crowd, 
and drown, for a time at least, the voice of mason 
and of justice: and, my Lord, though no one, ac¬ 
quainted with the dignified character of your Lord- 
ship, and that of your colleagues, can possibly be¬ 
lieve, that the illuminations, of Saturday, the 10th 
instant, were set on foot from motives such as are 
here described, yet, give me leave to say, that, all 
the circumstances considered, I think we may be 
allowed to question both the modesty and the wis¬ 
dom of beginning those illuminations. 


For 



LORD HAWKESBURY. 15 

For the Government to illuminate, is, in fact, 
to force every private person to follow its example, 
or, to expose him to the insults and violences of 
the mob. Do I say, then, that Government is 
never to exhibit this mark of joy and applause ? 
No. There are certain events, at which every good 
and loyal subject must necessarily rejoice; such, for 
instance, as the return of the Birth Day of the King, 
a signal victory over the enemy, or the like, in the 
celebrating of which the Ministry may, with great 
propriety, take the lead. But, I do conceive, my 
Lord, that it is not very proper, nor veiy seemly, for 
Ministers to force (either directly or indirectly), or 
even to invite, the public to applaud, and exult at, 
any measure of the Cabinet y more especially a mea¬ 
sure, the only apology that can be offered for 
which, is, dire necessity .*—There are many con¬ 
siderations,. 


* There tvefe six thousand lamps exhibited at the Post- 
Office on Saturday night. Each lamp is charged to private indi¬ 
viduals, sixpence ; and, of course, not less to the Government. 
The whole cost of this exhibition, then would be one hundred 
and fifty pounds , a sum that might have been saved, at a time 
when the distresses of the nation are urged as a reason for sacri¬ 
ficing its honour. 

Nor 



16 


LETTERS Ttf 

derations, which may induce a man to submit, qui¬ 
etly, and in silence, to national calamity and dis¬ 
grace : but nothing short of the most odious and 
detestable tyranny can make him join in rejoicing 
at either. This species of tyranny, my Lord, I have 
had to resist. 

From the scenes of violence and outrage, which 
had taken place on the preceding Wednesday 
night, in some parts of the town, not far from 

^all- 


Nor is this prodigality seen in its true light, till compared 
with the parsimony which the Ministers displayed, in this res* 
pect, when they were, at last, compelled (however reluctantly) 
to announce to the public the reduction of Alexandria, and the 
final re-conquest of Egypt. This was one of those events, at 
which, as I observed, “ every good and loyal man must necessa - 
rily rejoice f yet the Ministry exhibited no signs of joy. They 
did, indeed, cause the Park and Tower guns to be fired; but that 
they were obliged to do, wishing, I dare say*, at the same time, 
that all London had been deaf. It must be oil and wine to the 
wounds of our gallant army in Egypt, to learn, that their glorious 
atchievements were celebrated by the illumination of the Por* 
cupine Printing-Office alone , while the treaty, which provides 
for the evacuation of a country, out of which this army had dri¬ 
ven the last of the enemy , set the Capital in a blaze of exulta¬ 
tion, encouraged and begun by the Ministers themselves!! ! 


9 



LORD HAWKESBURY, 17 

Pall-Mall, I had reason to expect, that, on the ar¬ 
rival of the Ratification of the Preliminaries, my 
dwelling-house here, as well as my Printing-Office 
in Southampton-street, would be attacked; because 
my sentiments respecting those Preliminaries were 
publicly known, and because it could not be ima¬ 
gined that I should belie by any manifestation of 
joy at night, the principles and sentiments, which 
I had promulgated in the morning. Impressed, my 
Lord, with this belief, and still more deeply impres¬ 
sed with the ideas, which I had imbibed in my 
childhood, that an Englishman’s house was his 
castle, and that every subject of His Majesty 
possessed the right of exercising his unbiassed judg¬ 
ment, so long as he paid implicit obedience to the 
laws of the realm, I made application to the 
Bow-street Magistrates for legal protection. At 
their desire I went to their office, and was very 
politely received by the Magistrates then sitting, 
Mr. Bond and Sir William Parsons, to whom I 

related the grounds of my apprehensions, andfiom 
whom I received a promise of all practicable pro¬ 
tection. 

It happened, my Lord, precisely as I had ex¬ 
pected: about eight o’clock in the evening, my 
dwelling-house was attacked, by an innumerable 
j) mob, 


18 


LETTERS TO 


mob, all my windows were broken 9 and when this 
was 'done, which occupied about an hour, thfe vil¬ 
lains were preparing to break into my shop, and 
had actually made one of the shutters give way. 
Fearing that the cannibals might murder myself and 
my children, I now ordered my windows to be light¬ 
ed ; but even this, my Lord, did ncft satisfy this 
unlawful and ferocious rabble, who, ever and anon 
howled out that I was the publisher of the Porcu¬ 
pine. The attack continued at intervals, till past 
one o’clock on the Sunday morning. During the 
whole of this time, not a constable, nor peace of¬ 
ficer of any description, made his appearance ; nor 
Was the smallest interruption given to the proceed¬ 
ings of this ignorant and brutal mob, who were thus 
celebrating the Peace. 

The Porcupine Office, in Southampton- 
street, experienced a similar fate. The Clerk, the 
only person in the house, narrowly escaped with 
his life. Before the attack began, and as soon as 
he perceived a disposition to begin it, he went, 
in obedience to an order he had received, to the 
Public Office in Bow-street, and related the danger. 
But the persons he found there, so far from being 
disposed to render him any protection, literally 
8 pushed 


LORD. HAW^ES^URY. 19 

pushed him from the door, saying that there were 
no magistrates at the office. If there had been magis¬ 
trates, and if the force, which is always at the 
command of those magistrates (and for which 
the nation annually pays no trifling sum), had 
been properly employed, I have no scruple to 
assert, that this scandalous breach of the peace 
would never have taken place; an assertion which 
is fully warranted by the events of the following 
Monday night, when a detachment of the officers 
of Bow-street (sent by the express command of 
Lord Pelham) effectually prevented, at both my 
houses, the attempts to renew the attack, though 
not a single light was exhibited in the windows of 
either, and though the swinish multitude* was more 
numerous and noisy than ever. 

D 2 The 


* This expression, the use of which has so often been 
cited as an offence on the part of Mr. Burke, I thus repeat, 
after due consideration, and upon a thorough conviction of its 
propriety. The sober, modest, frugal, quiet, and cleanly poor, 
are to be treated not only with compassion but with a certain 
degree of respect ; but those that are headstrong, noisy, grow¬ 
ling, slothful, filthy in their carcasses, nasty and excessive in 
their diet and their drink, are to be treated with abhorrence, 

let 




2Q LETTERS TO 

The motives for my conduct, on this occasion, 
having been grossly misrepresented, I think it not 
altogether useless to state them to your Lordship. 
It has been said, that I acted from pique against 
Mr, Addington, Mr. Pitt, or your Lordship, 
from one or all of whom I had received some slight. 
But, my Lord, you know that, as far as relates to 
yourself, this imputation is totally groundless ; and 
I declare to you that it is equally so, with respect 
to Mr. Addington and Mr. Pitt, the former of 
whom stands the first, after the Princes, on the list 
of Subscribers to my Works, and the latter has 
shown me marks of commendation, of which many 
a greater and better man than myself would.have 
been proud. I did, indeed, once hear of an ex¬ 
pression. 

Let the soup-shop philanthropists own such brutes for their “ fel¬ 
low creatures,” if they please, for my part I call them the 
swinish multitude, and I sincerely wish, that the Gadarean 
Devil would enter into them, and drive them headlong into the 
sea.—One of the great vices of the age, is, the almost universal 
propensity to flatter this turbulent part of the poor. Hence the 
Sunday-schools, the soup-shops, the subscriptions, and all the 
other numerous devices for coaxing them and keeping them in 
good humour 5 hence too the eternal cant about humanity, 
which is, now-a-days, become * most significant term, meaning 
no less than, hypocrisy inspired by cowardice. 


/ 



LORD HAWKESBURY. 


21 


press ion, made use of by "Sir. Pitt, respecting me, 
at which I was deeply wounded; but, after in¬ 
quiry, I have every reason to believe it to have 
been a base and wicked misrepresentation, fabri¬ 
cated by a servile wretch, who had the impu¬ 
dence to regard me as his competitor for the favour 
of the Ministry. In short, my Lord, till this un¬ 
fortunate Peace was made public, I entertained 
no other sentiment towards your Lordship, Mr. 
Addington, or Mr. Pitt, than that of respect. 

Some have asserted, that I have shown this 
marked dislike to the Peace, because I was gaining 
money by the continuance of the War. In every 
possible view of it, this assertion is false. The 
War brought me no private good, while it was a 
very heavy clog on much the most considerable 
branch of my business; and one .of the very first 
effects produced by that Peace, which I so de¬ 
cidedly disapprove of and so loudly condemn, was 
a saving to me of upwards of seventy guineas in in¬ 
surance ; a fact which, while it establishes my 
disinterestedness, may serve, en passant , to con¬ 
vince your Lordship and the public, that my suc¬ 
cess in life depends neither upon your nor their 
patronage. 


Consistency 


22 


LETTERS TO 


Consistency of conduct, an agreement between 
my words and my actions, required that I should 
resist, on this occasion, the mandates of the igno¬ 
rant rabble ; but, I must confess, that this was not 
the only motive of my resistance. I foresaw what 
would happen, and I conceived that I had a good 
opportunity of setting an example to those, who 
. have hitherto escaped the general degradation, and 
are yet capable of being awakened to a sense of 
the dangers that threaten us. My house exhi¬ 
bits, at this time, no very imperfect emblem of 
the consequences which I fear will result from the 
Peace I was called upon to celebrates Property 
destroyed—the Crown and Mitre disfigured and 
broken—the Arms of Royalty torn to pieces—the 
names of Princes defaced . It is impossible for any 
thinking man to see or hear of this, without being 
led into such a train of reflection, as must end in 
a conviction of the dangers to which the Peace has 
exposed us. Those who are accustomed to trace 
events to their causes, will not deny, that the fate 
of nations has often turned on a cause much more 
trifling than the unlawful and riotous demolition of 
a house; and, though I am not vain enough to be¬ 
lieve, nor sanguine enough to hope, that I am the 

favoured 


LORD HAWKESBUry, OJ 

favoured instrument, chosen to awaken my country 
to a due sense of the horrors which await it, I am 
sure it is my duty to endeavour to awaken it; and 
when I look back on the singular success of my 
humble endeavours in America, I feel myself irre¬ 
sistibly impelled to proceed. 

You stand alone” say some persons. This 
is not true to the extent which is meant to be con¬ 
veyed by the words. I do, indeed, stand almost 
alone with respect to the demolition of my house ; 
but, had no fear of the mob existed in London and 
Westminster, that house would have been amongst 
"the vast majority. The Public Offices gave an in¬ 
vitation to a general manifestation of joy, and the 
rabble enforced it. When I began my opposition 
to French principles and French influence in Ame¬ 
rica, even my countrymen called on me to desist, 
telling me that I “ stood alone ” but I stood long 
enough to find myself in the majority. I stood 
long enough to hear ga ira exchanged for God sate 
the King. I stood long enough to see the people 
of Philadelphia, who had threatened to murder me 
because I openly exhibited, at my window, a pic¬ 
ture of Lord Howe's victory over the French 5 I 
stood long enough to see these very people make a 


LETTERS TO 


2 4 

public celebration of Lord Nelson’s victory of the 
Nile. Nay, my Lord, I stood long enough to see 
the time, when I was the only writer in the country, 
who dared to. stand forward in behalf of a body of 
injured and unfortunate Frenchmen , who finally 
owed to hie, and to me alone, their deliverance 
from ruin, and, perhaps, from death. 

But, my Lord, with shame and grief I confess, 
that the Americans were not so far gone in base¬ 
ness as Englishmen now are. Amidst all their 
Republican follies, they still retained some little 
sense of national honour. Their government did, 
indeed, repeatedly debase itself at the feet of the 
insolent tyrants of France ; -but, there was always 
a considerable portion of the people, who put in 
their unequivocal protest against this debasement; 
and, never did even the vilest of the rabble dare 
to become the beasts of the sans-culotte agents. 
We have seen the Americans make Peace with 
France; since that we have seen the French Envoy 
arrive amongst them; but, we have heard of no 
public demonstrations of joy on the occasion, 
much less have we heard of any scene, such as that 
which was exhibited in London, on the 10th of 
October. They received him, as it was proper to 


receive 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 25 

receive the agent of an insiduous and malignant foe, 
with whom they found it necessary to live in peace; 
without insult, indeed, but with coldness and re¬ 
serve. They knew the value of Peace as well as 
we : they knew they had neither fleet nor army to 
carry on War; they yielded too far to the enemy; 
they, too, may be justly accused of cowardice; 
but they have not, like us, proclaimed that cowar¬ 
dice to the world, through every channel that sound 
or sense can supply. 

However, my Lord, England, humble and 
base as she is become, is still my country; and, 
though I can neither retrieve her character npr pre¬ 
vent her destruction, it is my duty to stand by her 
side, and partake, in her fate. I feel some conso¬ 
lation, too, in reflecting, that, if my children should 
out-live the storm, and see better days, they will 
remember, with pride, that their father never 
bowed the knee to the regicides of France. 

Having now, my Lord, explained the motives 
of my resistance of the Peace-loving Mob, I return 
to my narrative of the scandalous proceedings of 
the 10th of October. 

The sentiments, which prevailed amongst the 
people in the streets, in every part of London and 

E West- 


LETTERS TO 


26* 

Westminster, were such as indicated the most de¬ 
cided partiality for France; that is to say, for re¬ 
publicanism and regicide. The smashing of the 
glass, and the cracking of the wood-work of my 
house were accompanied with shouts of “ France 
“ for ever !”—“ Huzza for Buonaparte !”— 
“ Huzza for the Republic !”—The same was heard 
repeatedly opposite every house, which was bril¬ 
liantly illuminated, not excepting the Public Offices, 
amongst which the Admiralty was most conspicuous, 
as well for its brilliancy as for the infamy of the 
language, and the conduct of its admiring mob, 
who were constantly engaged in an open defiance of 
the law from seven o’clock on Saturday evening, to 
nearly three o’clock on Sunday morning. Of those 
private persons, who made any other display than 
the candles, which they hoisted by compulsion, 
nine-tenths were republicans, and the other tenth 
fools. The principles of those who exhibited trans¬ 
parencies were easily distinguished by the devices 
which they had chosen; and, a gentleman who 
took particular pains to verify the fact, has assured 
me, that nineteen transparencies out of every twenty, 
were expressive of attachment to Buonaparte’s 
person, or to the cause of France ! 


It 


27 


. LORD HAWKE SB URY. 

It was impossible to view these abominations 
without calling to mind the following verses from 
the most elegant poem which the latter times 
have produced, and the last line of which seems 
to be prophetic of the very event of which I am 
now speaking : 

“ The sword we dread not:—of ourselves secure, 

“ Firm were our strength, our Peace and freedom sure, 
ts Let all the world confederate all its powr’s, 

“ Be they not back’d by those that should be ours, 

“ High on his rock shall Briton’s genius stand, 

“ Scatter the crowded hosts, and vindicate the land. 

" But, French in heart , though victory crown our brow, 

<f Low at our feet though prostrate nations bow, 

“ Wealth gild our cities, commerce crowd our shore,— 
London may SHINE, but England is no more." 

In many parts of the metropolis the language 
openly held, during the whole of Saturday and of 
Monday evenings, was infamously disloyal, not to 
say treasonable. At a print-seller’s in St. James’s- 
street, where a considerable crowd were assembled, 
a man approached the window, and pointing to a 
portrait of a Great Person, not unknown to 
your Lordship, first made the motion of stabbing , 
and then of ripping'np, grinding his teeth at the 

E 2 


same 


28 


LETTERS TO 


same time, and exclaiming, <c Ah! that I would ! 
<f that I would!”—Then turning to a portrait of 
Mr. Pitt, “ Ah !” said he, “ and that long fellow 
“ too,” repeating, at the same time, the gesticula¬ 
tions expressive of his bloody wishes. After this he 
pointed to a portrait of Buonaparte, and, taking 
off his hat, gave three huzzas, in which he was 
joined by all those around him!!! * Such, my 
Lord, were the people who rejoiced, who sincerely 
rejoiced at the Peace,*)* which your Lordship had 

the 


* This was the fact alluded to in the following elegant 
paragraph :—“ In various parts of the town and its suburbs, 
“ the cry of Buonaparte for ever prevailed 5 and in St. James’s 
“ Street something occurred too horrid for repetition.”— 
“ Here is 

u Food for meditation ev’n to madness .” 

f “ In the awful and tremendous storm which came on 
te during the rejoicings on Saturday, some descried the vengeance 
“ of Heaven denounced on our country. Heaven avert the 
t( omen ! But it really looked as if Britannia, shrouded in 
f ‘ sable robes, had exclaimed, with Zanga, 

“ -Horrors now are not displeasing to me! 

“■ Rage on ye winds, burst clouds, and waters roar! 

" You bear a just resemblance of my fortune, 

“ And suit the gloomy habit of my soul.” 



LORD HAWKESBURY. 


29 


the honour to sign, and the news of which you had 
“.the great pleasure” of communicating to the 
Lord Mayor.* 

In 

* The following Epigrams, which appeared in the Porcu¬ 
pine of the 12th and 15 th of October, should not be lost. 

EPIGRAM. 

Addressed to them who are rejoicing in the Peace, 

That no one should halloo, ’till out of the wood. 

Is a maxim, which none can deny j 
And a truth so important, if well understood. 

Discretion will always apply. 

Then a truce to your guns, which seem too much in haste. 
Although Omnium and Stocks both have rose 
0 ,ydo not that powder so wantonly waste. 

Which, ’ere long, you may need for your Foes! 


ON THE PEACE. 

I 

Saturday Night, October 10, 1801. 

This night, the Heavens in fury weep; § 

Fit heralds they of our repose , 

Beneath whose smiling surface sleep 
More dreadful storms than erst arose 1 

§ Alluding to the tremendous storm of thunder, lightning, 
and rain, which interrupted the illuminations. 


s 


TO THE 





so 


LETTERS TO 


In my last letter* I observed, that, of all the ad- 
miration and gratitude, inspired by the Peace, no 
part fell to the lot of your Lordship and your col¬ 
leagues ; and, indeed, my Lord, the corporations, 
and other public bodies, do still persist in a most 
obstinate taciturnity. Either they are very dull of 
perception, or they are very ungrateful, or the 
<c blessing,” which has been conferred on them, is 
no blessing at all. These bodies are not wont to 
be so backward in giving their opinions; and the 
only reason which I can perceive for their back¬ 
wardness now, is, that they cannot approve of the 
Peace, without offending their own consciences; and 
cannot openly disapprove of it, without offending the 

mob. 


TO THE RIGHT HON. 

LORD HAWKESBURY. 

Is this, my Lord, to meet the Foe, 
With Paris in our view ? 

N'importe! You don’t to Paris go. 
But Paris comes to you. 


October 10 th , 1801, 



LORD HAWKESBURY. SI 

mob. Curious dilemma! It is, however, not to 
be denied, that the measure has a decided majority 
of the nation in its favour; I mean as to number's ; 
but as to the other mode of dividing the suffrage, 
according to property and wisdom , I would by no 
means recommend it to be resorted to. 

After the facts already related, one would 
hardly suppose it posssible, that any thing could be 
found, calculated to add to the disgrace of the na¬ 
tion. I shall, however, simply relate one more, 
and should be extremely glad to hear it contra¬ 
dicted with truth. 

When Citizen La ur is ton arrived at Dover, 
he had, in company with him, one Lundberg, a 
Swedish Captain, who had been taken up and sent 
out of England, twice during the War, under the 
Alien Law, and whose vessel, on one occasion, had 
been seized. The King’s Officers at Dover, having 
recognized this man, were, of course, taking the 
proper measures for preventing him from proceed¬ 
ing into the country, when the modest harbinger of 
“ Peace and Plenty” declared, in a most peremp¬ 
tory manner, that unless Citizen Lundberg was 
permitted to proceed with him , he would instantly re¬ 
turn 


32 


LETTERS TO 


turn to France ivith the Treaty. Intimidated at this 
dreadful menace, the officers released Lundberg, 
who came on to London with Lauriston, was here 
the companion of his triumphal procession, and was 
actually drawn with him to the Public Offices and 
through the Royal road in the Park, as described in 
my last letter. Nay, the Citizens returned to France 
together, and were again drawn by the people 
through the ancient city of Canterbury. At Dover, 
Lundberg laughed at the officers, told them he 
could now set their Government at defiance, and 
added, that he should soon have a vessel to ply be¬ 
tween Calais and Dover!—“ How are the mighty 
“ fallen ! Tell it not in Gath ! publish it not in the 
“ streets of Askalon!” 

One inference must be drawn from this strange 
event. It proves, beyond the possibility of doubt, 
the fixed determination of Buonaparte to make 
us drink the cup of degradation to the very dregs. 
For it cannot, for a moment, be supposed, that Lau- 
r is ton would, without authority, have dared to act 
as he did; and, if the Corsican encouraged such 
conduct, he has already given us a striking proof of 
that pacific disposition , that sincerity , and moderation , 


on 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 33 

on which, and which alone* we are* in future, to 
depend for our safety *. 

In the next letter, my Lord, I shall enter on 
my promised discussion of the causes, the conditions, 

and 


* Since the first edition of this letter appeared, some of the 
minions of the Ministry have had the impudence to assert, that 
the fact here related, respecting Lundberg, is not founded in 
truth. They have said, that Lauriston met with Lundberg, 
by accident, at Calais, and that, foreseeing the necessity of having 
an interpreter, he engaged the Swede in that capacity, at the 
recommendation of an inn-keeper. But, will it be believed, that 
Lauriston could not speak English ? And, if that were the case, 
will it be believed, that he would have postponed the procuring of 
an interpreter, till he arrived at Calais ? Even allowing this too, 
will it further be believed, that he would have chosen, for this office, 
an entire stranger ? And, should English baseness and credulity 
admit even all this, the disgrace is only so much the more com¬ 
plete for, how great must have been the contempt, which Lau- 
riston entertained for this government and nation, when he 
threatened to return with the treaty, unless he was permitted to take 
with him, a fellow, whom he had, but the day before, picked up 
at an inn !!! I never pretended to say where, or how , Laubis- 
ton first took this Swede under his protection. That was a cir¬ 
cumstance quite immaterial. All I wished to insist on was, and 
yet is, that Lundberg had been sent out of England tinder the 
Alien Law; that he returned in defiance of that law; that he, by 

F that 




34 


LETTERS TO 


and the consequences of the Treaty. In the course 
of this discussion, I shall attribute to your Lordship, 
no other responsibility, than that which you must 
necessarily assume. You have signed this Peace 
as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and as such, 
and such only, I address myself to you. Personality 
is entirely out of the question: it is the measure 

itself 


that act, was guilty of felony j that the officers at Dover appre¬ 
hended him as being so guilty j that the threats ofL-AURisTON 
disarmed the law, in open violation of which Lundberg was 
brought to London, and taken back again to Dover and to Calais. 
These are the facts that are of importance, and none of these facts 
have been, or can be, denied. Lord Temple, feeling, as every 
true Englishman must, the indelible disgrace cast on his country 
by this insult, asked Lord Hawkesbury, in his place in the 
House of Commons, if there were any foundation in the report 
respecting Lundberg $ to which he received ?io answer. It is 
well known, that this unparalleled indignity has been the subject 
of much conversation, and of as much discontent as the broken 
spirit of the nation can be expected to express: nor is this un¬ 
known to the Ministers, who, had they been able, would long ago 
have sent forth a public and explicit contradiction of my state¬ 
ment.—But, not to leave to inference the establishment of so im¬ 
portant a fact, I again declare, that what I have stated respecting 
Lundberg is true, and for proof I can appeal to the records 
of the Alien Office, and, if necessary, to the affidavits, of persons 
at Dover. 



LORD HAWKESBURY. 35 

itself that I dislike, and that I shall attack, and not 
its authors, whom I have hitherto highly respected, 
and who have, perhaps, in this instance, weakly 
sacrificed their own opinions to the ignorant clamours 
of the populace. 

I am. 

My Lord, 

Your Lordship’s most humble 
and most obedient servant, 

Wm. cobbett. 


F 2 


36 


LETTERS,TO 


LETTER IV. 

Pall-Mall , 1 9th Oct. 1801. 

My Lord, 

In entering on an examination of the Peace, 
which your Lordship has signed, the attention of 
every Englishman is first naturally turned towards 
the Mediterranean, the theatre of our present war¬ 
like operations. 

Four years ago, my Lord, we had not a single 
vessel floating on that sea, nor was there a single 
port open to us in the whole extent of its immense 
coasts. The enemy, on the contrary, who, by force, 
by terror, or by fraud, were become the absolute 
masters, not only of the waters, but of the surround¬ 
ing shores and the islands, or of the humbled Pow¬ 
ers, to whom they belonged, might, with no great 
impropriety, call it the French Sea. Our Conti¬ 
nental Allies, disarmed by force or by fear, were all 
prostrate at the feet of the Republic. On this sea, 
as it were in its own home, we sought for the for¬ 
midable and all-conquering foe, we found him, we 
attacked him, we fought him foot to foot. Minorca 

was 


0 



LORD HAWKESEKJRY. St 

was the first fruit of our valour; with a fleet inferior 
both in number and strength, we destroyed the fleet 
of France; by a blockade of more than a year we 
became masters of an impregnable fortress, at once 
the best military and naval station in the Mediter¬ 
ranean, if not in the world; finally, in the course of 
one single campaign, the glory of which will, I am 
much afraid, my Lord, outlive Great-Britain her¬ 
self, we rescued, from the fangs of the invaders, a 
whole kingdom, conquered and defended by a nu¬ 
merous army of their chosen troops. Porto Ferrajo, 
fortunately succoured by Admiral Warren, must, 
in a few weeks, have been effectually relieved by a 
detachment from our victorious army in Egypt. 

By this line of naval stations, all of them im¬ 
pregnable, all inaccessible to our enemy, Gibraltar, 
Mahon, Porto Ferrajo, and Malta, to which it 
would have been very easy to add Corfu or Alex¬ 
andria, our brave countrymen, by land and sea (for 
jhe former have now shown that occasions only 
were wanting to exalt their fame to a level with 
that of the latter), had laid a solid foundation for the 
sway of Great-Britain, in that distant sea, so lately 
regarded as the patrimony of France; they had 
raised an insurmountable barrier between French 
s ambition 

# 


$8 tETfE&S TO 

ambition and the territories of the Turk, as also be-* 
tween the plundering projects of the most daring of 
robbers, and our golden territory of the East; they 
had established for us an exclusive commerce with 
Turkey, and had bound that Power to England by 
the ties of gratitude and self-preservation; by our 
possession of Porto Ferrajo, the trade was entirely 
cut off between the western and eastern coasts of 
the French Republic (for, my Lord, all men of sense 
persist in regarding the farcical kingdom of Etruria, 
the state's of the Church, and the Kingdom of Na¬ 
ples, as neither more nor less, than provinces of 
France); in short, the French were completely 
driven from the Mediterranean sea, and scarcely 
dared to risk a few miserable fishing smacks, even 
under the shelter of their batteries. 

To preserve this Empire of the Mediterranean 
to the end of time, required, at most, only ten or 
twelve thousand men, judiciously distributed in the 
three or four posts above-mentioned, with a few 
ships of the line, accompanied by a proportionate 
number of frigates. Our gallant army, having ex¬ 
pelled the enemy from Egypt, were at hand, and 
ready to take uj5on them the preservation of these 
valuable possessions, which, had they even been 

open 


LORD HAWKESBURY, 


39 


open to the assaults of the foe, we might, I pre¬ 
sume, safely have committed to the defence of those 
arms, by which they had been conquered. From 
the abundance, and the consequent cheapness, of 
provisions of every sort, the land and sea forces, 
employed on this station, would have stood in no 
need of supplies from home, and would have been 
maintained even at less expense than in any part of 
Great-Britain.—To all these advantages may be 
added, ten thousand seamen inured to the Southern 
Seas, the commerce of which constantly employs 
so considerable a portion of our marine. 

Now, I ask you, my Lord ; nay, the nation 
asks you, in a voice that will ere long be heard, 
how you have disposed of these inestimable acqui¬ 
sitions, purchased with the skill, the valour, the 
treasure, and the blood of her children. 

Minorca is given up to Spain —that is to say 
to France ; Porto Ferrajo to the King of Etru¬ 
ria —that is to say to France; Malta to the 
Knights of that Order—that is to say to France—l 
am Sure your Lordship’s candour will spare me the 
trouble of proving the two former assertions,' in 
consideration of which indulgence; I will give you 
an ample demonstration of the third. 


The 


40 


LETTERS TO 


The Order of Malta, my Lord, is a religious 
and also a military association, subjected to certain 
established rules, and consisting exclusively of Ca¬ 
tholic nobles. This association is composed of eight 
tribes (commonly called Langues), to wit, the three 
tribes of France, two of Castile and Arragon, com¬ 
prehending Portugal, one of Italy, one of Germany, 
and one of Bavaria, which has superseded the an¬ 
cient tribe of England. Now, my Lord, you, who 
know these things so well, cannot doubt, that all 
these countries are directly under the influence of, 
or in a state of absolute dependance on, the Consul, 
or government* of France. The families and the 
patrimonial possessions of the Knights, together 
with the commanderships of the Order, are the 
surest possible pledges of a ready and blind obe¬ 
dience on their part. These Knights of Malta, or 
Knights of Buonaparte, which ever you please to. 
call them, will be the sovereigns of the island, and 
will, of course, possess and exercise all the powers 
of government. They will be just as numerous as 
Buonaparte pleases; they will be chosen by him, 
and, in fact, they will be so many soldiers under his 
command. Will the garrison, kept in the fortress 
by the guaranteeing Power (if, indeed, that Power 

should 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 41 

should have a garrison there), be able to resist a 
sudden attack on the part of France, favoured by a 
conspiracy of the numerous individuals invested with 
the supreme authority of the island ? Can the fleets 
of Russia, frozen up in the ports of Revel' and 
Cronstadt, during more than six months in the year, 
and separated from Malta by a voyage of two months, 
at least; can these fleets be expected to prevent a 
French coup-de-main, and preserve the independence 
of the island, in spite not only of the French but of 
its own lawful and reigning Sovereigns ? Besides, 
what interest can Russia possibly have to induce 
her to undertake so distant and expensive an expe¬ 
dition, in order to preserve the independence of a 
territory, from which she will derive no manner of 
benefit ? And, if, tired of the mere guardianship, she 
should wish to seize on the sovereignty of Malta, 
and should accomplish that wish, what then be¬ 
comes, my Lord, of your guarantee? The Otto¬ 
man Empire will then be placed between the Rus¬ 
sian armies and the Russian fleets, while the Greek 
religion will soon enlist more than one half of the 

o 

subjects of the Porte under the banners of its most 
formidable enemy. Should this event take place,- 
you will have preserved, or, to speak more correctly r 
G our 


42 


LETTERS TO 


our brave fleets and armies will have rescued, Tur¬ 
key from the hands of France, that you might yield 
her to Russia, whose empire, now bounded by the 
Danube, the Black Sea, and the mountains of Cau¬ 
casus, would then extend itself, without the least 
interruption, from the Baltic and the Frozen Sea, 
to the burning coasts of the Red Sea, the Indian 
Ocean, and the Persian Gulph; while Persia her¬ 
self, more than half surrounded by this gigantic 
Power, and exhausted by an inveterate and de¬ 
vouring anarchy, must soon fall into its hands; and 
thus would the empire of Russia reach to the bor¬ 
ders of India. This, your Lordship, with the gra¬ 
vity, so characteristic of your station, may probably 
treat as chimerical; but, my Lord, recollect, that 
the expeditions which I have here traced out for 
Russia, are by no means so difficult to execute, as 
those in which the republicans of France have 
frequently succeeded. It was doubtless, the dread 
of Russian ambition that prevented your wise 
predecessors from yielding to the popular voice, 
which was loud for the cession of Malta to the 
Emperor Paul, who had, not without solid 
reasons, caused himself to be proclaimed Grand 
Master of the Order. 

If, 


lord hawkESBury. 43 

If, my Lord, you tell us, that it is the King of 
Naples, to whom you mean to commit this im¬ 
portant guarantee, we shall not trouble you with 
reasoning, but simply ask you, who is to guarantee 
the King of Naples f Not to sport longer with your 
feelings, my Lord, it is evident, that, which ever 
way we view the subject, Malta is delivered up to 
France. 

There is, indeed, one precaution, my Lord, and 
only one, which is capable of giving something 
like reality to this guarantee, and which will secure, 
for some years at least, the independence of Malta, 
by giving time to the guaranteeing power and the 
other Powers interested, to come to its aid, in case 
of need. We have seen this fortress, undeniably 
the first in the world, snatched, in the space of two 
days, from the feeble or venal hands of a man, whose 
infamy will live as long as the glory of Lille- 
Adam. This precious deposit ought, then, in 
future, to be confided to the guardianship of tried 
firmness and integrity. 

If the Catholic Nobility of Europe boasts a man, 
whose virtues, whose actions, and whose sentiments 
render him worthy of being the chief of a religious 
association, founded upon courage and honour, it 
G 2 is 


44 


LETTERS TO 


is certainly that man, whom the Powers of Europe* 
and England in particular, ought to put in posses¬ 
sion of this most important charge ; and, my Lord, 
give me leave to say, that any other choice will cer¬ 
tainly be regarded as a new insult to the under¬ 
standing of the nation, or as a shameful juggle with 
Buonaparte 

From this moment, then, all the coasts of the 
Mediterranean, even to their nethermost recesses* 
from Gibraltar to Ceuta, together with all the nu¬ 
merous Islands, scattered through that immense 
space, become the exclusive property of the 
French Republic, as they formerly were of the 
Roman Empire. How, then, are we to maintain 
a competition with France in the commerce of Italy 
and the Levant ? She will place so many obstacles 
in our way ; her ingenious malice will invent so 
many embarrassments, checks, and prohibitions, in 
all the States of the Mediterranean, which she will 
Continually keep in awe, by terror or by intrigue, 
that vexation alone would drive our merchants from 
the trade, even if they had not to contend with 
the immense disadvantage, that will arise from the 
high, price of labour, and the distance of the market. 
Under these circumstances, my Lord, I appeal to 

Jky.our 


LORD &AWKESBURY. 45 

your candour, whether you would advise any Bri; 
tish merchant to risk a cargo, of any amount, were 
it only for a twelvemonth, in any part of Italy or 
Turkey ? 

In signing the abandonment of Malta, of this 
eternal monument, raised to the glory of Britain 
by the intrepidity, the vigilance, and unwearied 
perseverance of her troops, were you well aware, 
my Lord, of what you were doing ? Did you duly 
estimate the importance of the object, and consider 
the magnitude of the sacrifice you were making? 
Did you recollect, that, to enable us to get posses 
sion of this Island, nothing less was required than 
the battle of the Nile, the conquest of Italy by the 
Russians, a rupture between France and the Porte, 
involving the States of Barbary, which, otherwise 
would have been able and willing to succour the 
garrison; and, besides this wonderful concurrence 
of favourable events, a blockade of more than a 
year, without an hour’s intermission—a blockade 
without a parallel in the naval annals of the world ? 
Has Fortune (a female that never pardons the neg 
lect of her advances) promised your Lordship a 
second miracle in our favour? Did not your hand 
tremble, my Lord, when you resigned for ever , 

into 


46 


LETTERS TO 


into the power of our mortal enemy, this most 
valuable spot of the globe, the fruit of so much 
patience, toil, and valour, seconded by unexampled 
good fortune ? 

As a counterbalance for this sacrifice, we are 
told to consider the concessions you have obtained 
from the enemy. Let us now turn to these con¬ 
cessions, for God knows we stand in need of con¬ 
solation. 

In three months time, the French engage to 
evacuate Egypt, where, at the very moment the 
Treaty was signed, they had no other force than a 
garrison , who were prisoners of war ! ! ! The sur¬ 
render of Alexandria had not, nor, indeed, has 
it yet been celebrated by illuminations; but, my 
Lord, you must have known, that, if the news 
had not actually arrived, it w T as not at many 
leagues distance from London. If Mr. Otto was 
generous enough to make you an offer of this con - 
cession , he must have discovered in you, during the 
course of the negotiation, strong symptoms of an 
amiable simplicity; and, if he granted it at your 
request, he must have been not a little surprised, 
either at your want of information, or at your dis¬ 
trust of our army , to whom this article of the Treaty. 

8 makes 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 47 

makes but a Very poor return for their valour and 
their sufferings.* 

But, as if it had been extremely difficult to 
bring the French to consent to this important con¬ 
cession, you stipulate, by way of equivalent, to 
evacuate Egypt (which was really in our posses¬ 
sion), in six months from the signing of the Treaty; 
that is to say, you not only engage to leave the 
country open to a new invasion, but also to give 
up all the advantages which might, and would, 
have been derived from the gratitude, and even 
from the self-interest, of the ally, whose dominions 
we had rescued, and whose existence we had pre¬ 
served. 

It 


* From the Dispatches of General Hutchinson, it ap¬ 
pears, that every Frenchman in Egypt had surrendered to our 
army eighteen days before this concession was obtained from 
France. That Buonaparte knew this is now certain, and that 
our Ministers were not much behind him in information no one 
ean doubt. To insert a stipulation for the evacuating of Egypt 
was, in itself, a most shameful thing; but to hold it out as a 
concession obtained from France, requires a degree of assurance 
rarely to be met with. The fact is, the stipulation was neither 
more nor less than a pretext for yielding up Egypt to the mercy 
of France , 




48 


LETTERS TO 


It must be confessed, however, that Buona¬ 
parte, too, has taken on him an engagement of 
very great importance. He guarantees the in¬ 
tegrity of our Allies , the Sublime Porte, Naples, 
and Portugal. When his hand was in, I wish, 
my Lord, he had guaranteed our integrity also, 
for I am much afraid this Treaty has given it a fu¬ 
rious shock. 

Our brave army, my Lord, had, without the 
aid of your Treaty, put the Sublime Porte in full 
possession of all its invaded territory; and a very 
trifling squadron, stationed at Malta, would have 
been an effectual guarantee of this possession, while 
it would have guaranteed to us the exclusive com¬ 
merce of the Levant, 

The King of Naples was no longer our Ally ; 
he had already made Peace, and that, too, without 
any cession of territory; for Buonaparte does 
not, like the British Ministry, ask for that which 
he already has . You are pleased, my Lord, to repre¬ 
sent the recall of the French army under Murat, 
as. an act wdiereby the independence of the Pope 
and of the King of Naples is re-established; and 
as a complete and final evacuation of their respec¬ 
tive States. But, my Lord, permit me to ask you 

one: 


LORD HA WKESfcTJR Y. 49 

one question. When a man goes out to take a 
walk) putting the key of the street-door in his 
pocket, is such a man, in the common acceptation 
of the words, said to evacuate his house ? You wilh 
I know, answer in the negative; and you may rest 
assured, that, from the banks of the Po and the 
frontiers of Etruria, the army of Murat has only 
a few days march, totally unobstructed, and they 
are again in the territories of those Allies, for whom 
you have obtained so respectable an independence!! 

One might have hoped, that you would have, 
in reality , provided for the safety of Portugal, 
the ally whose constant and unshaken fidelity 
imperiously demanded of us, to make in her behalf 
every sacrifice, compatible with the security of the 
nation and the honour of the Crown. But, my 
Lord, Portugal had already made Peace with Spain 
and France. Besides, do you sincerely believe, that 
to obtain for the Court of Spain the. town of Oli- 
venza and its district, which contain about 1,800 
inhabitants, was the real object of the War against 
Portugal, and that these acquisitiQns once secured, 
it only remained for the hostile powers to lay down 
their arms and live in Peace ? No, you believe no 
such thing. Bounapart£ had then, another reason 
II for 


50 


LETTERS TO 


for foregoing at once so easy and so advantageous a 
conquest as that of Portugal. This reason, since 
you are, or seem to be ignorant of it, was, the pos¬ 
session of the port of Madeira by one of our squa¬ 
drons, and the fear, which France entertained, of 
throwing the Brazils into our hands. This, my 
Lord, was the true and efficient guarantee of Por¬ 
tugal, and the other guarantee, which you would 
fain make use of as a specious mask to your enor¬ 
mous concessions, can answer no purpose but that 
of weakening, and, perhaps, destroying the for¬ 
mer; for, the Peace, which you have signed, will 
enable the French to anticipate us in the Brazils; 
and, the moment they have put us off our guard 
there, -tBounaparte will no longer demand the 
cession of Olivenza, but of Lisbon, my Lord, and 
of Portugal itself, which was the real object of the 
cession that France has obtained of that part of the 
Portuguese territory, which is situated on the north 
of the river Amazons, and contiguous to the French 
possessions in Guiana. 

It is not true, then, my Lord, that the Peace 
secures the Independence of Turkey, Naples, and 
Portugal; on the contrary, it exposes Turkey to 
the inroads of France, which would have been for 


ever 


LORD HAWKESBtJR Y. 51 

ever prevented by a small squadron, stationed at 
Malta; it furnishes the French with the means of 
s eizing on the Brazils, and thus deprives Portugal 
of the only surety for her existence. You have not 
then, my Lord, signed the guarantee of the integrity 
of these States, but the guarantee of their destrnc- 
iion . What a mistake, my Lord, for a Statesman 
to commit! yea, even for a suckling Statesman ! 

With regard to Naples, your Peace leaves her 
just in the same situation that it found her; that is 
to say, at the absolute command of her all-power¬ 
ful and all-devouring neighbour. You found the 
dove in the clutches of the vulture, and in those 
clutches she still remains. 

If it were not for wasting too many of those 
precious moments, which are employed in fixing 
the destinies of empires, I would beg your Lordship 
to listen to a fable .—A young shepherd had just 
taken charge of a numerous and well conditioned 
flock, having, to assist him, plenty of watchful and 
courageous dogs, which had always successfully re¬ 
sisted the attacks of a neighbouring wolf, or had, 
at least, set some bounds to the effects of his vora¬ 
city; but the shepherd, not having much of the 
hero in his composition, and Wishing, perhaps, to 
H 2 save 


52 


LETTERS TO 


save his master a part of the food, which his faith¬ 
ful dogs so dearly earned and so richly deserved, 
proposed to make peace with the wolf. The wolf, 
under some pretext or other, always kept a fox in 
or about the hut of the shepherd, ready to negotiate. 
The simple, timid shepherd and the cunning fox 
soon came to an amicable adjustment. It was 
agreed between them, and even signed , my Lord* 
that his Wolfish Majesty should leave off his rava¬ 
ges, and that the shepherd should dismiss his dogs. 
The' fable does not say what became of the sheep, 
at which I must, therefore, leave your Lordship to 
guess. 

Permit me, my Lord, to ask you, if you have 
lately heard any thing of the unfortunate Sovereign 
of Piedmont and Savoy. He was, my Lord, one 
of our allies; nay, what is more, he was our faith - 
ful ally; we led him into the War, and he fought 
by our side, till necessity compelled him to yield. 
And yet, my Lord, your treaty says not a word of 
any mitigation of his misfortunes. You might, I 
think* have obtained him a promise from the 
Grand Consul, counter-signed by the honest 
Citizen Talleyrand, not to seize on the island 
of Sardinia the moment our fleets should have bid a 

Ifinal 


LORD HAWKESBUR Y. 53 

final adieu to the Mediterranean. Your friend 
Buonaparte has been, on this subject, more com¬ 
municative than you. He has lately told the 
French, and has left this cowardly country to hear 
it at second hand, that cc Le Piemont forme notre 
Vie. division militaire /” Without another word ! 
Without any apology for the seizure, or any appre¬ 
hension of the displeasure of the monarchies of 
Europe, in consequence thereof! 

But, it is time to turn our dejected looks from 
the Mediterranean and its borders, so lately the 
scene of our glory, and now the scene of our igno¬ 
miny, and to endeavour to find elsewhere some 
mitigation of our disgrace, some consolation for 
the disastrous sacrifices, of which I have made 
the mortifying enumeration. The importance of 
our East-India possessions give them a claim to 
priority of attention : the effects, therefore, which 
the Peace will have on them, shall be the subject of 
my next letter. 

J am. My Lord, 

Your Lordship’s most humble 

and most obedient Servant, 


Wm. cobbetl 


54 


LETTERS TO 


LETTER V. 

Pall-Mall , 22d Oct. 1801. 

Lord, 

Ouk successes, by sea and land, had ex¬ 
empted from all danger of attack, that part of our' 
empire which surpasses the mother country in ex¬ 
tent and population, and rivals her in wealth and 
industry ; and it even seemed to.have been impos¬ 
sible for Fortune herself to open a road to it for 
our enemies. But fortune, alas ! finds wonderful 
resources in the boldness of some men, and in the 
pusillanimity of others. You, my Lord, have 
contrived to place the French arms in its vicinity. 
The whole nf the rich and extensive possessions of 
the Dutch, in that part of the world, are restored 
to Holland; that is, to France. I shall not ask 
your Lordship to admit the existence of this iden¬ 
tity, for you yourself have acknowledged it in the 
most authentic and solemn manner. You have re¬ 
ceived from the hands of Buonaparte alone , without 
the consent of Spain and Holland, without even 
the mere form of Ministers, from these pretended 
independent States, the cession of the Islands of 

Trinidada 



LORD HAWKESBURY, $5 

Trinidada and Ceylon, which belonged to them 
before the War. And, should these two Powers 
prove to be, in reality , independent, and should 
they refuse to ratify the present, which Buona¬ 
parte has made you of their territories, how, my 
good Lord, will people smile at those brilliant illu¬ 
minations, which were the happy result of a fortunate 
coalition between the inventive faculties of the Mi¬ 
nistry, and the executive powers of the mob ? But, 
my Lord, notwithstanding your courtly condescen¬ 
sion to Ali Buonaparte, you knew, as well as I, 
that he held the Court of Spain and the Batavian 
Republic in a state of the most abject subjection. 

If our naval superiority should prove sufficient 
to secure us, for some years to come, against all 
danger of attack from their islands, the possession 
of the peninsula of Malacca affords an easy means 
for the march of a French army into the territory- 
of Bengal, in concert with the kingdom of Birman, 
or our other neighbours in the East. You have, it 
is true, my Lord, obtained permission from the 
French to keep the Island of Ceylon, the absolute 
value and relative importance of which are not to* 
be questioned. But I must request your Lordship 
to observe, that the French do not give it us; we 


were 


56 letters to 

were already in possession of it, and they were urp 
able to take it from us :—so they kindly leave it to 
us. I could, however, have wished, my Lord, for 
the honour of the English name, that this conquest 
had been made on our real enemies, and, since it 
is the only one which they condescend to yield to 
us, that we might light our bonfires and illuminate 
our houses, without blushing before a Prince, to 
whom it formerly belonged, whose attachment to 
us cost him his dominions; who, in seeking an 
asylum on our shores, brought with him the useful 
and respectable relics of his fortune and his party ; 
—a Prince, in short, who is the descendant of 
that race of heroes, whom we have some reason to 
consider as English, since we are indebted to them 
for one of our Sovereigns, and since, in the course 
of two hundred and fifty years, their attachment to 
the interests of this country has never varied an in¬ 
stant, even in times and circumstances the most 
critical and the most difficult. But let not my Pa¬ 
triotism outstrip my prudence ! With-hold from the 
French, did I say, a settlement which once belonged 
to them ? No, my Lord, I do not mean to accuse 
you of having harboured a wish to commit a sacri¬ 
lege so gross! Do we not know that every country 

which 


lord ha wicks BURY. 57 

which has, at any time, been incorporated with 
the Great Nation is inalienable, that it has acquired 
a sort of consecration, a character of indelible 
sanctity, and that, impregnated with the fire of 
liberty, it would destroy all profane inhabitants. 
This sacred right is not lost in the lapse of time; 
and the Convention, whose fortune and whose 
virtues Buonaparte inherits, justly claimed for 
modern France, on that ground, the limits of an¬ 
cient Gaul. We shall, probably, ’ere long, be in¬ 
formed that Cisalpine Gaul and Celtiberia have also 
been united to France. You know, my Lord, 
that the French acknowledged the God Mars; and 
it is asserted, that, in the pillage of Rome, they 
discovered that same statue of the God Terminus , 
which would not give up its place to the master 
of the Gods. It was, no doubt, in conformity 
wdth this incontestible, though novel principle of 
the law of nations, that you thought yourself 
obliged to restore to France Pondicherry, Mahe, 
and all that she ever possessed on the Continent of 
India, thereby opening a way into the very heart 
of our Eastern Empire, if not for the arms, at least 
for the intrigues of our enemies, which are almost 
as formidable as their arms. You cannot have for- 
X gotten, 


LETTERS TO 


58 

gotten, my Lord, that the French contrived to 
establish Jacobin Clubs at Seringapatam, at a time 
when they did not possess a single inch of land in 
the country:—and these are the men whom you 
have just introduced into the heart of our most va¬ 
luable settlements ! 

There was, indeed, one consideration of a con¬ 
solatory nature, which might have cheered the 
gloomy prospect of our distant dangers. So long 
as we were in possession of Saint Helena and the 
Cape of Good Hope, the only places of rest or re¬ 
freshment to be found in the vast expanse of ocean, 
which separates Europe from India, we had no 
reason to fear, that a fleet of ships of War and 
transports, sufficiently large for the conveyance of 
a powerful army, could steer directly for Batavia, 
without touching at any port on the way. In order 
to effect such a voyage, it would be necessary to 
combine the uncertain winds of the Atlantic with 
the regular monsoons of the Indian Seas; nor 
could it be made by such a fleet in less than eight 
months, and I leave your Lordship to guess what 
would be the state of an army after such a voyage. 

But, my Lord, you have very graciously con¬ 
descended to remove this difficulty for the French, 


lord hawkesbury. 59 

by restoring the Cape of Good Hope to Holland, 
that is to France. You will urge, no doubt, that 
it has become a free port !—Do you mean to say 
that it will be open to us in time of Peace ? AH 
ports are so. Do you mean to say that it will be 
equally open to us in the event of a War with 
France ? I apprehend that no one of His Ma¬ 
jesty’s ships would venture to enter the port on 
the faith of such a treaty. Besides, my Lord, I 
will honestly confess to you, that it is far beyond 
the power of my limited faculties to comprehend 
the possibility of our being at War with France, 
henceforth, without being at War with Holland at 
the same time. Do you limit your definition of a 
free-port to a port at which the produce of the 
country may be purchased without the payment ot 
duties to the Sovereign of the port ? Assuredly, 
my Lord, in that case, you will have imposed on 
the East-India Company a debt of gratitude, which 
they will never b£ able to repay, by enabling them 
to buy their beef and mutton for their crews at the 
Cape, a few shillings per lot cheaper than they 
could before. No doubt this inestimable advan¬ 
tage surpasses all the benefits, which the administra¬ 
tion* of Mr. Dundas had procured for them, and 
X 2 which 


60 LETTERS TO 

which could not be very important, since a single 
stroke of the pen sufficed to render them of no ef¬ 
fect. For my part, I am disposed to consider the 
term free s port , as signifying a port that may be 
seized by the first power who chuses to occupy it, 
and that France will be that power, will very soon 
be proved. 

But, I had nearly forgotten, my Lord, that 
your foresight and penetration had led you to adopt 
another precaution, and to exact from Holland a 
formal stipulation, that she should never cede the 
Cape of Good Hope to any other Power. On 
such a stipulation I have nothing to sav, except, 
that, at the very time when you deemed the en¬ 
gagement satisfactory, the Directory of the Bata¬ 
vian Republic called in the aid of the French 
Generals Angereau and Semonville to assist 
them in making their fellow-citizens freely accept 
the constitution, which is destined to give the 
finishing stroke to that stupendous fabric of na¬ 
tional wisdom and national happiness, of which the 
preceding constitutions had merely laid the foun¬ 
dation. Buonaparte will easily find means to 
conciliate the interests of France with the engage¬ 
ments of Holland, For instance, Holland will 

make 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 61 

make no cession to France, and France will con¬ 
trive to render it unnecessary. 

In the course of this War, my Lord, our ima¬ 
gination, borne on the wings of admiration and 
gratitude, successively traced the triumphant pro¬ 
gress of our fleets through the four quarters of the 
globe; we delighted in contemplating the trophies 
raised, by her favourite sons, to the glory of Great- 
Britain ; and in anticipating the advantages, which 
our country would derive from the possession of 
those valuable settlements, which their valour had 
gained. And you also, my Lord, have, it seems, 
followed the footsteps of our warriors; led on by 
the Genius of Fear, whose progress is infinitely 
more rapid than that of the Genius of Victory. 
Like a furious tempest, which, darting with the 
velocity of lightning, from one extremity of the 
horizon to the other, destroying the harvest, de¬ 
feating the hopes of the husbandman, by robbing 
him,' in one hour, of the fruits and the reward of 
a year’s labour and fatigue, tearing up whole 
forests, overthrowing hamlets and towns, laying 
waste whole districts and spreading death and de¬ 
solation around, the Genius of Fear traverses, in a 
moment, the whole circumference of the globe. 

It 


62 


LETTERS TO 


It did but show its hideous front, and, in an in¬ 
stant, all the conquests, all the trophies of our 
fleets and armies disappeared ! No trace of these 
is now left, except in the sacred remains of our 
martyred countrymen: and, in a few years, the 
very recollection of them will die away 3 for, which 
of us will not labour to expel it from his mind ? 
Yesterday, our hearts, fired by their example, 
envied them a death so honourable ; to-day, it 
extorts only tears and regret, since you have ren¬ 
dered it alike useless to their glory and to the 
prosperity of the nation. This malevolent demon 
darts from the Cape of Good Hope into the new 

world, and there we trace its footsteps by the de« 

, - * 

struction which attends them. 

Surinam (which was given up to us by the 
Stadtholderian party), Berbice , Denierara , and 
Essequibo , restored to Holland, that is to France, 
give our enemy, in conjunction with French Guiana 
and with the country ceded to him, to the north of 
the Amazons, a continental empire, which extends 
from the mouths of the Amazons to that of the 
Essequibo, and which borders on, and threatens, 
at the same time, the American possessions of both 
Portugal and Spain. 


All 


LORD HAWKESBUR Y. 63 

All the Islands taken from the French, that is 
to say, all those which they possessed before the 
War, even Martinico, which uniting an excellent 
port and a formidable fortress, in a wholesome cli¬ 
mate, with the most advantageous naval port, was, 
in our hands, the key of the Archipelago of Mexico, 
and the only protection we had for the possessions 
which Buonaparte has allowed us to retain in that 
part of the world. He, undoubtedly, ought to 
show some gratitude to us for having preserved 
those colonies in a flourishing state of cultivation, 
while the rage of that sect, which he so long served 
with zeal and fidelity, desolated the other French 
settlements, whose inhabitants had not had time to 
call us in to preserve them. 

'Hie chief of these unfortunate Colonies, and 
the richest perhaps in the whole world, was St. 
Domingo, which contained upwards of half a mil¬ 
lion of negroes, and twenty-four thousand mulattoes, 
employed in the cultivation of the Island, under the 
direction of thirty-two thousand Europeans. In 
addition to this most valuable Settlement, the French 
now possess the Spanish part of St. Domingo. By 
this union of the different parts of the Island (which 
had been expressly prohibited by one of the articles 

of 


64 1ETTERS 

of the treaty of Utrecht , that solid monument of tho 
wisdom of our fathers!), more extensive than the 
Island of Great-Britain, it may, one day, be render¬ 
ed adequate to supply a quantity of sugar, and cof¬ 
fee, sufficient for the whole consumption of Europe. 
This Island now belongs to Buonaparte. You 
have not, indeed, given it to him ; for, unfortunately 
for him, it was not in our possession. But, as the 
War did, in reality, deprive him of all its benefits, 
\ye may fairly reckon it amongst the acquisitions of 
the Peace; for, it is absolutely impossible but Tous- 
saint must fall in a struggle against the French 
Government, disengaged from every embarrass¬ 
ment, and having at her nod thousands and tens of 
thousands of soldiers, officers, and generals, inured 
to all the fatigues and dangers of War, and embold¬ 
ened by victory. For some time, perhaps, the. 
mountain's in the centre of the Island may shelter 
the straggling remnant of the sable battalions; a 
tribe of savage maroons may thus be formed, to live 
upon wild fruits, terrify the settlers in the vicinity 
of the mountain, and steal their hogs and poultry; 
but, destitute of arms and ammunition, what can 
they do against a colony, powerful in itself, and 
supported by a mother country, which has given 
* law 


LORD HAWKESBURYi 65. 

law to all Europe ? In short, it would be totally 
impossible for these wandering fugitives to exist 
Jong in time of Peace. The rigour of the republi¬ 
can measures', and the dispatch, with which they 
executed them, are well known. Buonaparte 
would only have to say, as in the case of the unfor¬ 
tunate Chouans, <c qu on me di$e, avant six jours’ 

<c Qu’lLS ONT VECU !” 

In answer to this, my Lord, your partizans* 
will cry cc so much the better /” Nay, these sapient 
politicians go so far as to assert, that by a secret 
article of your treaty, Great-Britain is to assist Buo¬ 
naparte in re-establishing the colonial system of 
the Island, and, of course, in making War against 
its present ruler; whose title is much better than 
that of Buonaparte’s, and with whom, be it re¬ 
membered, my Lord, Great-Britain has , at this 
moment , a treaty of amity and commerce ! However, 
since we happened to come too late to preserve this 
Island in a flourishing state for our enemy, the only 
way of obtaining pardon for our negligence is to 
lend a hand in repairing the injuries, which have 
arisen therefrom. 

But, my Lord, be assured that Buonaparte 
will find a way of doing this without our aid; I 
K will 


LETTERS TO 


' 66 

will venture to foretell the destiny of the Negro 
army, which amounts to from 30 to 40,000 men, 
and the existence of which you regard as incom¬ 
patible with that of the colonial system, not only of 
St. Domingo, but of our Islands also. This army, 
my Lord, divided in its councils, corrupted or in¬ 
timidated, will be very soon beaten, and in great 
part -destroyed ; for, to conquer and to spare, is by 
no means a republican maxim. Those.who escape 
the lead and the steel will not amount to many 
thousands; and, lest they should again trouble the 
tranquillity of the Island, they will be employed, 
together with the very army, by whom they have 
been conquered, to invade, to subdue, to lay waste, 
and destroy our Island of Jamaica, which is sepa¬ 
rated from them by a distance of not many hours 
sail. Spanish America will be their next prey ; a 
prey which they will very quietly seize on, in spite 
of our Island of Trinidada, which is doubtless a 
second Garden of Eden, since we have given up 
the wide world to obtain it. 

I have before cautioned you, my Lord, against 
treating apprehensions of this kind as chimerical 
Those who, in 1793, thought it a. very easy matter 
to conquer France, have lived to see the French in 

Egypt. 


LORD HAWKESBURY. " 67 

Egypt, in Arabia, and Palestine. The project, of 
which I speak, is by no means new: the plan of 
the conquest is already traced out. Louisiana once 
made a part of the favoured earth, that the destinies 
have consecrated to liberty; of jjie promised land 
of.the Grand Nation, and, of course, it is now to 
come under her sway; for so the Republic one and 
Indivisible has decreed. Yes, my Lord, you know, 
or you ought to know, that the cession of Louisiana 
to France was the subject of one of the secret arti¬ 
cles of the Treaty signed at Basle by M. Yriarte* 
On the same principle, with which the Republicans . 
have long insulted Europe, this country was de¬ 
manded, not as an equivalent, or as a sacrifice, but 
as a restitution , it having once belonged to France ! 
Louisiana borders on Mexico, my Lord, and I can 
assure your Lordship that the* march to Paris, even 
in 1793, would not have been so easy as a march 
from New Orleans to the city of Mexico. Ten 
thousand French soldiers, inured to the hardships 
and fatigues of the camp and the field, accustomed 
to danger as the eagle to the tempest, and attracted 
by the richest prey that ever tempted the rapacity 
of man, would snatch this glittering prize from 
the feeble and enervated hands of the Spaniards, 
K 2 who 


who at present hold it, with much greater ease than 
a handful of their ferocious and sanguinary ancestors, 
took it from its ancient possessors. 

I am. My Lord, 

Your Lordship’s most humble 
and most obedient Servant, 


Wm. cobbett. 


LORD HAWKESBURV. 


6 


LETTER VI. 

f 

Pall-Mall , 24/7* Oc/. 1801. 

My Lord, 

The bare enumeration of our numerous con¬ 
quests has already cost me more time and pains, 
than it cost you to surrender them into the hands 
of our enemy. I have traced your Lordship over 
the Mediterranean and the Levant, into Egypt and 
Africa, on the seas and the land of Asia, to the 
islands and the Continent of America:—Gracious 
God ! what a scene of desolation ! Fortresses, har¬ 
bours, cities, provinces, and islands, you have scat¬ 
tered like autumnal leaves. The 1 whole globe, my 
Lord, is strewed with the ruins of England. Even 
the fisheries on our own coasts were a charge too 
weighty for your feeble and trembling hands. 

It is for the French, and what is worse, it is for 
the regicide French, that our fleets and armies have 
fought, bled, and triumphed; it was for them 
that we took Minorca and Malta ; it was for them 

that 



70 


LETTERS TO 


that we defended Porto Ferrajo; we drove, them 
from Egypt, that we might again leave it at their 
mercy, together with the other dominions of the 
Turk, who, in any future emergency, will in vain 
hope For protection from our fleets, which, by 
your Treaty, my Lord, are for ever banished from 
a sea, of which their valour, had given us the abso¬ 
lute dominion. For the Regicides of France, and 
to facilitate their communication with India, we 
received from the partizans of the Stadtholder, 
the Cape of Good Hope and the fleet in its har¬ 
bour. To the Regicides of France we have surren¬ 
dered the Spice Islands; in South America we have 
gained for them a vast Continental territory, ex¬ 
tending from the Amazons to the Essequibo, and 
that, too, at the expense of Portugal, and of the 
Stadtholder, by whose adherents Surinam was 
committed to our charge.—The French Islands, 
particularly Martinico, which we received from the 
faithful subjects of Louis XVI. we have given up 
to those who led that Prince to the block. The un¬ 
fortunate inhabitants of Martinico, who, in evil 
hour, confided in the honour of England, and braved 
the vengeance of the cut-throats, are now yielded 
up to answer for their resistance. La Crosse, the 
6 co-operator 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 


71 


co-operator ofRiGAUD and Victor Hugues, the 
worthy rival of Fouche, is now at Guadaloupe, 
ready to arraign them at his bar; the bloody tri¬ 
bunal is already organised; the muskets, which are 
to put an end to these miserable dupes of our pro¬ 
mises, are already primed. A poor, spiritless, equi¬ 
vocal clause in your treaty will not save them from 
Republican vengeance, which has never yet wanted 
for a pretext to shed innocent blood. By what 
hitherto unheard-of right, my Lord, have you de¬ 
livered up to Buonaparte, that portion of the 
French dominions which had been deposited in 
our hands by the Loyalists, for the purpose of 
being restored to their King? Buonaparte had, 
indeed, taken possession of the greatest part of the 
inheritance of the King of France; but did he 
thereby acquire a legal claim to the rest ?— Neces¬ 
sity, dire necessity, might, perhaps, form some apo¬ 
logy for our conduct at Toulon. The fleet and 
army of the allies could hardly escape themselves 
on that occasion; we refused assistance to none of 
- the miserable inhabitants, and those who suffered, 
were the victims of their confidence in those blood¬ 
thirsty monsters, from whom they ought to have 
fled. And here, my Lord, I cannot help remind- 


7 2 


LETTERS TO 


ing you, that, at Toulon, this very same Buona¬ 
parte, to whose mercy you have abandoned the 
Loyalists of Martinico, was a principal actor under 
the Commissioners of the Convention, Freron and 
Maximilien Robespierre, and performed so well 
his part, as to be honoured with the name of Ter¬ 
rorist, and to be driven from his post as such, after 
the fall of that infernal tyrant, who was, with no 
great impropriety, styled the King of Terrors . 

To return to Martinico, and the other Colonies 
yielded to us by the Loyal French and Dutch, will 
you deny, my Lord, that part, at least of these 
possessions were held by us in trust f The whole 
world will attest it, and, from one end of the uni¬ 
verse to the other, honour and justice will join the 
unfortunate Loyalists in invoking the vengeance of 
heaven on our heads. 

T he numerous and useful acquisitions, made by 
your predecessors, are a sufficient proof of their 
zeal and their talents. If they did less than they 
might have done; if they even committed some 
glaring errors, it Was because they held the reins 
of power in times of unexampled difficulty, when 
genius could borrow no aid from experience ; but, 
their errors were more particularly owing to the 

influence, 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 73 

influence, which they suffered to be produced in 
their councils by popular clamour. What immortal 
honour would they not have obtained, had they fol¬ 
lowed the impulse of their own minds!—The con¬ 
quests which your Lordship has tremblingly yielded 
to the foe, would, in their hands, have been the 
certain means of obtaining a secure , honourable> 
and advantageous Peace. We have seen, my 
Lord, how far the Peace, which you have made, 
has accomplished the two latter objects; let us 
now see, what security we are likely to derive 
from it. Let us cast our eyes over Europe; let 
us look round the British Islands; let us, how¬ 
ever frightful the sight, view the interior of those 
Islands. It no longer behoves us to talk of co¬ 
lonies and of conquests; but, like a man on his 
death-bed, to examine ourselves and prepare for 
our end. 

We have taken a view of the foreign territory of 
the French Republic. We have left her in pos¬ 
session of more islands and more colonies, in every 
part of the world, than remain to us, who were, 
who yet are , but God knows how long we shall 
be, called the Naval Power, by way of emi¬ 
nence. In every quarter we have traced her am- 
L bitious “ 


74 


LETTERS TO 


bilious footsteps, and have observed some part or 
other of that edifice of universal domination, which 
she is erecting with such boldness and dispatch. On 
every side, we have seen the enemy at our doors ; 
every where is she close to our most precious pos¬ 
sessions ; threatening us from every promontory and 
every harbour, and ready to draw forth, and turn 
loose against us, the numerous and obedient allies, 
which our pusillanimity has compelled to enlist under 
her banners. 

But, frightful as this gigantic power is else¬ 
where, she is more particularly so, when we view 
her on the Continent of Europe, and on the shores 
of England. The Republic of France, properly so 
called, includes France, Belgium, Germany on this 
side the Rhine, French Switzerland, Savoy, and 
Piedmont, and contains a population of thirty-one 
or thirty-two millions, all having the same rights, 
the same laws, the same language (with some tri¬ 
fling exceptions), inhabiting a territory undivided, 
and all thus melted down into one and the same 
nation, more numerous than any of those which 
have heretofore over-run the world. The Turkish 
and Mahometan population, which formed the Ot¬ 
toman Empire, did not amount to a fourth part of 

the 


LOUD HAWKESBURY. 75 

the number* Latium, and, since the Social War, 
Southern Italy, were the foundation of the Roman 
Empire ; a few -hordes of robbers in the deserts of 
Arabia, founded that of the Saracens. A chain of 
fortresses, together with rugged mountains and the 
sea, rendered France in her ancient limits, inac¬ 
cessible to her enemies, though consisting of the 
principal military Powers of the Continent, whose 
armies no sooner stepped on her territory than they 
were driven out of it with disgrace. The Rhine, 
the Meuse, the fortresses of Flanders, Flushing, 
Maestricht, Juliers, Luxemburg and Mentz, have 
now been added to her already insurmountable bar¬ 
rier. 

Holland, Switzerland, and the whole of Italy, 
are provinces subservient and tributary to the Em¬ 
pire of France; they recruit, pay, and clothe her 
armies ; they enrich her Generals and her Commis¬ 
saries ; her Ambaassadors are the Legislators, the 
Ministers, the real Sovereigns, the absolute Despots, 
of these States, which your Lordship, and your 
Colleagues, wish us to regard as independent. 
France receives an additional population of eigh¬ 
teen millions from these different provinces, which 
L 2 are 


LETTERS TO 


76 

$re all separated from one another by her own ter¬ 
ritory, all destitute of fortresses, except where she 
has a garrison, all without arsenals,' without armies, 
except those which she obliges them to maintain, 
under her command, for the purpose of keeping 
them ink awe; all totally cut off from every rela¬ 
tionship with one another, except the yoke which 
is their common portion. What resistance, my 
Lord, can they ever make against her will ? Their 
murmurs would be instantly drowned in their blood, 
and the hour of their revolt would be that of their 
destruction. 

Spain, destitute of forces, at a distance from all 
foreign aid, cut off from the universe by the very 
enemy that is preparing to swallow her up, is in as 
complete subjection to the French Government as 
any one of the departments in the centre of France. 
Her fleets are in the ports of France; French Ad¬ 
mirals and Generals command at Cadiz; and the 
King of Spain is in a state of such abject servi¬ 
tude, that he has received and executed the order 
to chastise his son-in-law, the Prince of Portu¬ 
gal, for the aid which this latter gave him at the com - 
mencement of the War!!! These two nations, which 


are 


LORD HAWKESBURY. *?T 

are at the nod of Buonaparte, and which will be 
revolutionized whenever he pleases, add thirteen 
millions more to the population of the empire of 
France. 

This Power, which, in no age of the world, has 
ever had its equal, amounts to a population of nearly 
sixty-three millions. A population not scattered 
over divided countries, but forming one body, 
under an active, vigilant, vigorous government, 
invested with more authority than any government 
on earth ever possessed ;^a government which gives 
to one man alone the power of suspending the laws 
at his pleasure. The seat of this empire enjoys 
all the advantages that nature has been able to 
bestow, seconded by industry and commerce, and 
is, beyond all comparison, more rich in natural 
and acquired productions than any other portion 
of the globe, of like extent. I think, my Lord, 
that the strongest national prejudices; nay, I be¬ 
lieve, that the high spirit of patriotism, which 
animates the breast of your Lordship, will scarcely 
refuse these advantages to the immense country 
circumscribed by the sea from Embden to the 
mouth of the Po, and, on the other side, separated 
from the rest of Europe by the Po, the Mincio, 

the 


78 


LETTERS TO 


the Lake of Garda, the Alps, the Rhine, and the 
Zuyderzee. 

The animating soul ot this colossal power, the 
French Nation hitherto so called, is composed of 
men characterized by every formidable quality. 
Active, laborious, and hardy, at once enterprizing 
and persevering, bold and insinuating, with a pas¬ 
sion for national glory, which has now been swelled 
into a sort of fury by the victorious close of a long 
and bloody war against all the powers of Europe. 
They are, as Mr. Pitt, in his better days, de¬ 
scribed them, cc an armed nation a nation of sol¬ 
diers, not formed by field-days and reviews, but by 
ten years of battles, of defeats, and of victories, 
foreign and domestic, and by a species of enrol¬ 
ment so general and inexorable, that scarcely re¬ 
mains there a man amongst them, who has not faced 
the enemy. 

Such, my Lord, is no exaggerated picture of 
the power of France, considered in herself, and as 
forming one political body, with all the appen¬ 
dages which her usurping ambition has drawn 
around her. But, in the political world, nothing 
is absolute; a nation, particularly with regard to its 
power, must always be considered relatively with 

4 other 


tORD HAWKESBURY. 79 

other nations. Let me beseech your Lordship, 
then, to accompany me to the new frontier that 
France has formed around her. Though we nave 
run away, my Lord, we may venture to look behind 
us on this terrific pow T er; and it will require no 
great exertion of courage to stare her neighbours in 
the face/ 

The Zuyderzee and the Rhine, as far as Basle, 
separates France from Germany; fortresses, three 
deep, and, in some places, four deep, render this 
first natural barrier completely insurmountable. 
From Basle to the other extremity of Switzerland, 
the Rhine and the Lake of Constance, together 
with the numerous and excellent military positions 
of Switzerland, form a line of defence not less 
secure than the former. At the upper end of the , 
Lake of Constance, where the Rhine becomes too 
shallow to form a barrier, rise the higher Alps of 
Switzerland, and of the Orisons, which separate 
Germany from Italy. The country of the Orisons 
in particular, which gives to France the command 
of the sources of the Rhine, of the Inn, and of 
the Adige, and, consequently, the command of 
those different vallies, penetrates like a wedge into 
the body of the Austrian monarchy, driving on to¬ 
wards 


80 


LETTERS TO 


wards its heart, that is to say, its Capital, and 
wrenching its German from its Italian possessions. 
At the foot of the Alps, the Lake of Garda, the 
Mincio, defended by Mantua and Peschiera, the 
lower Po, with its vast marshes, defended by the 
citadel of Ferrara, separates the whole of Italy 
from the rest of the world; and, such is the advan¬ 
tage of this frontier, that these three fortresses are 
alone sufficient to secure the quiet possession of 
Italy, where sixteen millions of inhabitants will, 
from this time forward, cultivate the. most fertile 
soil in the universe for their new and domineering 
masters on the other side of the Alps. These for¬ 
tresses, at the same time, render useless twenty 
others, which France has hitherto been obliged to 
support against Piedmont, on the frontiers of Dau- 
phiny and Provence. 

To this frontier, so formidable, whether for 
attack or defence, the Emperor has no one for¬ 
tress to oppose, nor has nature furnished a single ob¬ 
stacle, except the feeble current of the Adige and 
the Inn. 

From the Lake of Constance to the German 
Ocean, ail that vast and fertile country which lies 
between the Rhine on one side, the Elbe, Bohemia, 

♦ and • 


lord hawkesbury. 81 

and Austria on the other; and which, united under 
one and the same Sovereign, would form a great 
and powerful kingdom, but now divided into more 
than two hundred petty States, destitute of arsenals, 
of fortresses, and nearly destitute of troops, the open 
or secret enemies of each other, distrusting, and 
not without reason, the fidelity of their own sub¬ 
jects, who are highly Jacobinized, exhausted by 
war, and trembling at the very idea of a French 
army ; such a country may offer a desirable prey to 
France, but it offers not an enemy worthy of a day’s 
preparation. 

The two great Monarchies, Austria and Prussia, 
are, then, the last and only bulwarks of the expir¬ 
ing liberty and independence of the nations of 
Europe. A hearty union of exertions between 
them might have done much, though their united 
population, according to the highest estimates, 
amounts to only thirty millions; that is to say, to one 
half of the population of the French Empire. But, 
this concert, so strongly urged by every honourable 
niotive, and even by self-preservation, is so far from 
taking place, that, at this moment, it is matter of 
great doubt, which has the ascendance at these 
Courts respectively, their hatred of each other, or 
M the 


82 


LETTERS TO 


the fear which they both entertain of their common 
enemy. 

Russia alone can now boast with propriety and 
truth of her independence. At her immense dis¬ 
tance from France, however, she can never act as a 
principal in any war against that power, but merely 
as an auxiliary, and can never employ but a very 
small proportion of her forces in such a contest. Re- , 
sides, what political relations can we have with 
countries situated beyond the Niemen and the Boris- 
thenes ? We maintain a communication with these 
countries by Riga, much in the same manner that we 
maintain a communication with China by Canton. 

It is, then, but too true, that the best half of Europe 
has been subjugated by France, and that the other 
half now lies prostrate at her feet. This last was 
'waiting in anxious silence for the favourable mo¬ 
ment to grasp the friendly hand, which we held out 
to raise it from its horrid state of degradation. But 
the Peace which you have concluded, has blasted 
its hopes, and rivetted its chains for ever. You, 
my Lord, are the herald selected by the inflexible 
mandate of fate, to proclaim to Europe the dreadful 
truth, that she must now resign herself to her lot, 
and obey . 


I shall 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 


83 


I shall not detain your Lordship any longer in 
Europe, which, unfortunately, has become to us 
more of a terra incognita than either of the other 
three quarters of the globe. These are still accessi¬ 
ble to us, we still have colonies, subjects, and tri¬ 
butary States, in these; their commerce is, almost 
Exclusively, our s own; but, Europe, my Lord, is 
shut against us; from Riga to Trieste we can only 
penetrate into her countries through France, or 
through those nations which are in a state of subjec¬ 
tion to the French Republic. We must, then, my 
Lord, direct our attention to the coasts of France, to 
those coasts which now, for the first time, assume a 
fearful aspect, and portend destruction to our country. 
But this must form the subject of another Letter. 

I am. 

My Lord, 

Your Lordship’s most humble 
and most obedient servant, 

Wm. cobbett, 


M2 


I 


84 


LETTERS TO 


LETTER VII. 

Pall-Mall, 26 th Oct. 1801. 

My Lord, 

Not only is France by far the most powerful 
nation on the Continent, but there exists nothing, 
in any union or probable combination of the other 
Powers, which may yet be called independent, to 
balance against her enormous weight. No longer, 
therefore, have we .reason to hope for any diversion 
on that side 5 and, in all future struggles, we must 
prepare ourselves to meet the undivided force of 
this mighty empire. 

Much dependence is placed, and, perhaps, 
very justly placed, on our navy ; but, my Lord, the 
enemy will not be without a naval force. Not¬ 
withstanding the losses which France has suffered 
in her own navy, as well as in the navies of her 
principal provinces, Holland and Spain, she is be¬ 
come the naval power next in rank to Great-Bri- 
tain, and that she now possesses the means of rising 
superior to us, even in this our favourite bulwark, 
is a truth, my Lord, which, unfortunately, it is 

but 



lord hawkesbury. 85 

but too easy to prove. She is the nearest, or rather 
is the only country near, to England : we are en¬ 
veloped with her encroachments. The long rival- 
ship of the two nations has been succeeded by a 
deadly and settled hatred against Great-Britain, or 
at least against the British Monarchy; a hatred ori¬ 
ginating with the sect which now governs France, 
and communicated by them to almost every de¬ 
scription of Frenchmen, who, with some few ex r 
ceptions, regard this government as the principal 
cause ot all those calamities, which they have suf¬ 
fered for the last ten years; of all those bloody 
deeds, which have stained the annals of their coun¬ 
try for ever; of all those evils, in short, which 
arose from their own folly, and the weakness of 
their lawful Government. I say the 'weakness, and 
not the despotism, of the French Monarchy ; for, 
your Lordship must have observed (and I pray God 
you may never furnish an exemplification of its 
truth), that it is to weak, still more than to wicked, 
men, that Empires owe their destruction. 

The Jacobins, that is to say, the Republicans 
of France, look upon the British Government, and 
not without reason, as the author of all their dis¬ 
appointments, all their humiliations, all the dangers 

and 


86 


LETTERS TO 


and alarms, which they have experienced during 
their long and arduous struggle. Our naval power* 
our commercial prosperity, and our political insti¬ 
tutions, they regard as the greatest, if not the only, 
obstacle to their plan of universal domination. Our 
riches, which are exaggerated a thousand fold by 
their thirst of plunder, are a standing object of 
temptation ; and, to suppose that they will neglect 
any means of coming at them, would argue a total 
ignorance of their inclinations and their character. 
By nature enterprizing, enthusiastic from habit, 
elevated by success, eager for vengeance, ardent 
in the pursuit of pillage, and encouraged by the 
supplicating tone of their victim, what reason have 
we to hope for their forbearance ? In a word, my 
Lord, the Republic of France sees no bar but 
Great-Britain between her and the empire of the 
world. Must she not, then, strongly desire to re¬ 
move that obstacle ? And will she not, for the at¬ 
tainment of that end, employ all the means, which 
intrigue, perfidy, and even temerity, can add to 
the resources of a government powerful beyond 
example, and seeking for nothing but the exercise 
of that power, equally prodigal of men and of 
things, equally a stranger to shame and remorse, 

.and 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 87 

and feeling not the least restraint from the consi¬ 
deration of the miseries that even its own subjects 
may suffer from its desperate enterprizes ? 

What protection, then, my Lord, does your 
Treaty afford us against the united exertions of so 
much power, malignity, and rage? Here, or no 
where, it is, that we are to look for the price of so 
many extraordinary and unexpected concessions. 
It was, doubtless, to purchase cc security for the 
“ future,” at home, that you surrendered so many 
of our possessions abroad, and that you left those, 
which, as vet, remain in our hands, exposed to 
such imminent danger. It was, say your advocates 
(for there are such men, my Lord), to keep the 
French from the mother country, that you offered 
the colonies as a prey to their rapacity; but, my 
Lord, did you never read, in the fable, that the 
wolf, after having swallowed the kids, finished his 
repast upon the dam ? 

From Brest to Dunkirk, the French coast al¬ 
ways presented a formidable aspect to this country; 
the conquest and the subsequent cessions of Belgium 
augmented our danger; but the subjugation of Hob 
land, by extending this menacing coast to the 
Texel, by giving France the absolute command ot 


so 


S3 


LETTERS TO 


so many ports, harbours, and rivers, just opposite 
our most vulnerable part, opposite the mouth of 
the Thames, has, at once, swelled this danger to 
the highest pitch, and rendered it perpetual. Your 
partizans say, we could not rescue Belgium from 
the French :—I know it. Still less was it in our 
power to liberate Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and 
the States on the Rhine. It would have been ridi¬ 
culous to ask Buonaparte, to give up countries 
which had been ceded to him by their Sovereigns. 
You had, my Lord, no other means of providing 
for the safety of Great-Britain, than that of insist¬ 
ing on the real independence of Holland. This 
you might have done, my Lord; yo,u might have 
re-established a government in that country, which 
would necessarily have been the friend and ally of 
England, and would, if necessary, have been able 
to make a respectable and efficient resistance, ’till 
we could have lent our aid, and have roused the 
rest ot Europe to oppose any new act of injustice 
and usurpation on the part of France. Not having 
done this, my Lord, all the? territory, all the com¬ 
merce, and all the revenue, which you affect to 
regard as restored to our ancient ally, are surren¬ 
dered to our implacable enemy. Our sacrifices 

operate 


LORD H A W £ E S S U R Y. $9 

operate doubly against us. Not only do we yield 
up our strength and prosperity, but we yield them 
to those who will direct them against our existence* 
W e take the point of the sword from the breast of 
our mortal antagonist, and, like a despicable pob 
troon, present him with the hilt. 

The moment it became the interest of Great* 
Britain to treat, Holland ought to have been the 
great object of her negotiation. Our ancestors 
were so firmly attached to this system of policy, 
that, not content: with keeping Flanders, and, of 
course, the power of Austria, between France and 
Holland, they maintained a long war to obtain for 
this latter country that security which was given by 
the Barrier Treaty . Flushing, Bergen-op-Zoom*. 
Breda, Bois-Je-Duc and Maestricht, together with 
the Ecluse, and other fortresses on the left bank of 
the Scheldt, were not sufficient to quiet their fears no 
this most important point: and they never were at 
rest till they had put into the hands of those who were 
most interested in their defence, all the fortified places 
that cover Belgium on the side of France. 

To obtain for Holland that security, which I 
insist is absolutely necessary to our own, you need 
not have asked for kingdoms nor even large provin- 
N ces 


VO letters to 

ces from Buonaparte. A very small share irt 
that distribution of states, which this generous con¬ 
queror is making with so liberal a hand, would have 
been quite sufficient for the purpose; for instance, 
lluremonde, Juliers, Guelders, and Cleves, together 
with the fortresses on the left bank of the Scheldt> 
those* of Flushing and Maestricht, were all that was 
wanted. The cession of them would have affected 
neither the security nor the power nor the prosperity 
of France, but it was absolutely necessary to the 
independence of Holland, and, consequently, to the 
security of England. The French government could 
have no other object in holding them than that of 
perpetuating the subjugation of Holland; and the 
world will judge whether you ought to have con¬ 
nived at a subjugation, which must inevitably be 
the forerunner of our own. Holland once freed, 
your Lordship might have extended your restitu- 
. tions to Ceylon , without abandoning the interest, or 
forfeiting the honour of the nation. 

-- As things now stand, not only the ancient Bar* 
rier , as fixed by the Treaty of that name, but Bek 
gium also, and along with it the interposing power 
ot Austria, are all become of no avail in the pro¬ 
tection of the United Provinces; nay, even the 
' -barrier 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 


91 


barrier within the Scheldt; Flushing their best 
defended port, the key of the Scheldt, and, in some 
sort, that of the Meuse; Maestricht, which com¬ 
mands the country on the left of the Meuse; Juliers, 
Ruremonde, Guelders and Cleves, whence the 
French can, at any time, penetrate into the heart of 
the United Provinces, even beyond the Yssel; all 
are in the hands of France, where, thanks to your 
treaty, my Lord, they will for ever remain. By this 
treaty, Holland is become the unalienable property 
of the French Republic; and therefore, as I pro¬ 
mised to prove to you, it is to France, it is to regi¬ 
cide France, that you have given up the Spice 
Islands, the Cape of Good Hope, Surinam, Berbice, 
Demerara ; in short, it is to our most powerful and 
most implacable enemy, that you have given up 
more colonies and islands than she ever before pos¬ 
sessed, while you thought you were giving them up 
to our friends!—Permit me once more to exclaim, 
what a mistake for a Statesman to commit! \ea 

> 

for a suckling Statesman! 

Not content with securing to the French the 
sovereignty of Holland, by leaving the country en¬ 
tirely open to their inroads, you have, by abandon¬ 
ing the old. government, confirmed them in the 
N 2 possession 


92 


LETTERS TO 


possession of the revenues, the administration of 
affairs civil and military, in a word, of all the au¬ 
thority and resources of the State. How small so¬ 
ever might be the force left in Holland, if the Peace 
had replaced the direction of it in the hands of the 
Stadtholder, we might have relied on his cordial 
friendship, and the salutary chastisement which the 
Dutch have received from their new masters, would 
have prevented any future defection from his autho¬ 
rity. But, my Lord, unless some one of those im¬ 
portant secret articles (with which your partizans 
endeavour to amuse us) provide for his re-establish- 
ment, this Prince is destined to pass his life in de¬ 
ploring the destruction of the State, which was 
founded by the courage, the skill, the fortitude, 
the treasure, and the blood of his ancestors. That 
the Stadtholdership re-established would have yield¬ 
ed us a reciprocity of protection no one will deny: 
I leave your Lordship, who are, doubtless, a judge 
of such matters, to tell us what benefit we shall de¬ 
rive from the government, which is at this moment 
under the creative hands of Augereau and Se- 
aionville the Legislative Aides-de camp of the 
most indefatigable Legislator that ever existed. 

If Buonaparte had intended to leave Holland 

in 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 


93 

m possession of real independence, why should he 
have refused to restore the Old Government, espe¬ 
cially as it would have saved him the trouble of 
making a new one ? The reinstalment of the Stadt- 
holder would certainly not have been a more glar¬ 
ing infraction of that article of the Jacobin code, 
which declares that “ all men arc born , and remain y 
“ equal in rights” than the creating of a King of 
Etruria. And, if Buonaparte’s intention was to 
keep Holland in subjection, by the help of his new 
government, or by any other means, I again ask, 
my Lord, ought you to have connived at a subjuga¬ 
tion, which will inevitably be the forerunner of our 
own ? 

In place of^ z^-Ultimatum, then, my Lord, let 
us for a moment, suppose, that you had insisted on 
that which I have presumed to point out; that is, 
on our part, a complete restitution of all conquests 
to their former possessors; on the other, the re-esta¬ 
blishment of the Stadtholdership, the restitution of 
the Ecluse, Flushing and Maestricht, the cession of 
Ruremonde, Cleves and Guelders, with their dis¬ 
tricts, to cover the country between the Meuse and 
the Rhine, and to prevent the French from enter¬ 
ing, at pleasure, into the United Provinces. What 

would 


94 


LETTERS TO 


would have been the consequence? If Buonaparte 
had consented to it, you would have rescued Hol¬ 
land from his grasp; you would have laid a solid 
foundation for her independence; you would have 
had a just claim to the -attachment of her Govern¬ 
ment ; you would have strengthened our most an¬ 
cient and useful alliance; you would have convin¬ 
ced the nations of Europe, that, within her sphere 
of action, at least, England is yet something ; you 
would have had the secret applause and gratitude of 
Prussia, for interposing a new barrier between her and 
France; but, above all, you would have driven from 
our sight the prospect of invasion, that horrible 
spectre, which will now haunt us, night and day, to 
the hour of our dissolution. 

If Buonaparte had rejected this Ultimatum, 
you would have pulled the mask from his ambitious 
projects, you would have given a general alarm to 
all Europe, whose confidence and admiration you 
would have gained by so striking a proof of mode¬ 
ration and disinterestedness. But, my Lord, he 
would not have dared to reject it. The French, a 
great portion of whom sighed for Peace, and who 
were reconciled to Buonaparte merely because he 
had promised it them, would never have continued 

the. 


LORD HAWKESBUR Y. 95 

the War for the sake of a few fortresses, in no wise 
necessary either to their security, their greatness, or 
their prosperity, and not making altogether one half 
of a department of France. Had he persisted, how¬ 
ever, you would have destroyed his popularity; in¬ 
stead, of which, your Peace has raised him to the 
highest pinnacle of power and of popular favour. 
Pardon me, my Lord, if I am compelled to believe, 
that what you have done, is precisely the contrary of 
what you meant to do, or of what you ought to 
have done. Pardon me, too, if in proposing an 
Ultimatum , I have, in some sort, usurped your func¬ 
tions; but really, my Lord, your coup d'essai , is by 
no means calculated to dishearten young beginners 
in the diplomatic career. 

Belgium and Holland include all the different. 
mouths and branches of the Scheldt, the Meuse, ancl 
the Rhine, with several ports fit for the reception of 
ships of War, particularly those of the smaller size. 
The vast countries which the Rhine, the Meuse, 
and the rivers that fall into them, run through, are 
covered with forests, containing an abundance of 
oak and other ship-timber, which by means of these 
rivers will be conveyed at a very small expense, to 
the yards and docks near the sea. There are even 

considerable 


96 


LETTERS TO 


considerable forests of pines, as fit for masts as any 
that come from Norway, upon the mountains of the 
Vosges and the Schw r artzw r ald, the foot of which is 
washed by the Rhine. Thirty thousand French, 
Spanish, and Dutch sailors, which the Peace restores 
to our enemy, will man these new fleets. This 
same Peace will lay open to the French the naval 
magazines of the North. But, why do I talk of naval 
stores f By the Convention, my Lord, which you 
and your colleagues have made with the honest 
neutrals of the North, you have taken care to give 
us the enjoyment of this particular blessing of Peace 
by anticipation; for, such, my Lord, are the con¬ 
ditions of that Convention, that Buonaparte, might 
in any future War (if it should be possible for us ever 
to go into another War) have a three decker built 
in any port of the Baltic, and bring her to France, 
through the middle of our fleet, without the least 
danger of her being captured. It would only re¬ 
quire the precautions, 1 st, to man the vessel with 
one half Russians, Danes, or Swedes; 2 d, not to 
insert the name of the proprietor in the ship papers; 
3d, not to take her into a blockaded port. The 
observance of the two first conditions depends on 
the enemy 3 and as to the third, I appeal to Lord 

St.k 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 


97 


Sr. Vincent (to whose opinion I am sure you will 
implicitly subscribe), whether we can extend a 
blockade from the Texel to Ancona. 

To exercise and instruct their sailors will be the 
first advantage, which the French will derive from 
the Peace. They will apply themselves to the re¬ 
novating of their navy, with that activity and per¬ 
severance, which mark all those undertakings, 
which they regard as conducive to the accomplish¬ 
ment of their grand scheme of universal sway. And, 
such are their domestic resources, from the immen¬ 
sity of their possesions, and their foreign resources, 
from the ascendant which they have gained over all 
the other powers of Europe, that a very few years 
will elapse before they will have a navy far superior 
to that of the monarchy. To their own they will 
add the navy of Holland, and will dispose of that 
of Spain more absolutely than ever. And it is easy 
to perceive, that the kingdoms of Denmark and 
Sweden, whose geographical situation clearly marks 
them out amongst the last of the future conquests of 
France, will seek to cultivate her friendship as a per¬ 
manent protection against their formidable neigh¬ 
bours, Russia and Prussia; so that the French may 
saffely reckon these two powers amongst their future 
O maritime 


LETTERS TO 


98 

maritime auxiliaries. And, do you not tremble, my 
Lord, at the maritime influence, or, rather, the ma¬ 
ritime dominion, which extends from the Gulph of 
Bothnia to the Gulph of Venice ? 

Methinks I hear you make a triumphant com¬ 
parison between these infant undisciplined fleets 
and those of Great-Britain. But, my Lord, if we 
were certain (which I am far from being), that we 
shall ever again be able to send fleets to sea, let 
us not forget, that our enemies will have nothing 
to do but to cross the narrow channel , which sepa¬ 
rates our shores from theirs. Naval tactics are not 
necessary in an enterprize, the success of which 
requires but a few hours of favourable wind. 

The French having no enemy to dread on their 
land board, may easily maintain, and they will 
maintain, a numerous army along the coast from 
Brest to the Texel. This army they may double, 
at any moment they please, by those sudden and 
efficacious means, which are become familiar to the 
people; and, my Lord, however you may be dis¬ 
posed to sneer, one and the same southerly wind 
may bring four armies on our coasts. It is not ne¬ 
cessary to name the points of embarkation or dis¬ 
embarkation : the enemy is perfectly acquainted 

with 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 


99 


with the subject. But you will say, perhaps, 
“ what will the people of England be doing all this 
cc while ?” For an answer to which question I beg 
leave to refer your Lordship to those people of Eng¬ 
land , who drew Citizen Lauriston to your Office 
in Downing-street: and who, while they were re¬ 
joicing at your Peace, and joining in your illumi¬ 
nations, cried, “ Buonaparte for ever !—Huzza 
“for the Republic of France /” 

Great-Britain will, as the least possible evil, be 
obliged constantly to maintain a numerous army 
(I hear that the proposed Peace establishment is 
to be three times as great as it was during the last 
Peace) to repel an invasion, and numerous fleets 
to prevent the invaders from approaching her 
shores. We shall never know when an aggression 
is about to take place ; for the great and mighty 
Republic will be always preparing ; and, be you 
well assured, my Lord, that she will not suffer 
impertinent neighbours to ask questions. While 
our dock-yards and fleets are in a state of inacti¬ 
vity, we shall see vessels of all countries sailing to 
the ports of France, with all the materials necessary 
to re-establish her navy ; and it is not going too 
far to say, that she will receive thirty thousand 
O 2 mariners 


100 


LETTERS TO 


mariners from this country, some of whom, as your 
Lordship may recollect, are not a little infected 
with Jacobinism. In the mean time Buonaparte, 
or his successor (for your Peace has established the 
Republic), will dispatch troops and warlike stores 
to the West-Indies, the Cape of Good Hope, and 
to India. We shall not, as I before observed, dare 
to inquire into the extent, destination, and object 
of these armaments. We must observe their ope¬ 
rations in silence, and prepare for resistance in 
secret; for. they will not suffer as to embark a 
single regiment, without rendering them a full and 
satisfactory account. 

The military and naval establishment for such 
a Peace cannot be much less expensive, than what 
would have been necessary for the continuance of 
the War, or else it will be totally insufficient. It 
will not even be attended with the advantage of 
forcing the enemy to incur a proportionate ex¬ 
pense ; for the French Government, certain of hav¬ 
ing land-forces at its command, whenever it shall 
have occasion for them, will always be able to dn 
minish them with facility; and, consequently, to 
appropriate to the navy a great part of the funds, 
now employed for the support of the army. 


The 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 101 

The consequence of this state of mistrust, un¬ 
easiness, expense, and danger, on the one part; and 
of threats, intrigues, and hostile preparations on the 
other, which is honoured with the name of Peace y 
will enable the French, suddenly, and with the 
greatest advantage,, to renew a War, w T hich will be 
pregnant with the greatest danger to England, in 
as much as the French will have had time to collect 
their forces and their means of attack, so as to bear 
upon the points which they have in view ; and as 
they will moreover have it in their power to choose 
both their time and their point of attack. 

It is no longer, then, rny Lord, the loss of 
our conquests which we have to regret; it is no 
longer the dangers to which our distant possessions 
are exposed by the loss of those conquests, that we 
have to avert: in a word, it is no longer for glory 
and for empire that we have to contend, but for our 
safety and our independence. 

I am. My Lord, 

Your Lordship’s most humble 
and most obedient Servant, 

Wm. COBBETT. 


102 


LETTERS TO 


LETTER VIII. 

Pall-Mall , 28/4 Oc/.. 1801. 

My Lord/ 

When restraints are imposed on our power in 
every part of the globe ; when the honour of the 
English name is tarnished; when we have cause 16 
tremble for the very safety, nay, even for the 
existence, of our country ; can her commerce 
command any portion of our attention ? Yes* my* 
Lord, commerce is the vital principle of that em- ‘ 
pire, the basis and the support of that power. By 
commerce alone shall we henceforth be able to 
make good our engagements. By commerce alone 
shall we be enabled to support the expense of that 
enormous peace establishment, which is now en¬ 
tailed upon us for ever. From commerce alone 
can we derive resources for the support of a War, 
which our implacable enemy meditated in his heart, 
at the very moment when his hand signed the 
instrument of Peace. It becomes necessary, then, 

9 


to 



LORD HAWKESEURYr 103 

to examine in what manner you have provided fo 
the commercial interests of the nation. 

To investigate every branch of our commerce, 
to trace it through all its varied ramifications;- with 
a. view to ascertain the influence which the Treaty 
of Peace will have upon them, would require a 
work of an immense size, and infinitely beyond my 
abilities to compose. Indeed, I know, that the 
composition of a work so complicated, and requir¬ 
ing such an extent of knowledge, natural and ac, 
quired, would exceed the powers of any one man. 
My observations, therefore, shall be limited to a 
few leading points, all of which appear to me to be 
incontestible. 

The happiest state of commerce is an union of 
luxury and wealth. This union was found in the 
Austrian Netherlands, in that rich and fertile coun¬ 
try, whose superabundant productions furnished 
the most immoderate luxury with the means of sa¬ 
tisfying all its wants, and even of gratifying all its 
caprices. The commerce of the Netherlands is 
lost to us, and has been wholly transferred to our 
enemies. 

The Rhine, which, from one extremity to the 
other, is subject to the domination of the French, 

released 


101 LETTERS TO 

released from all those restrictions, which the con¬ 
tradictory interests of its different Sovereigns had 
imposed, will henceforth be the channel, through 
which all the produce of the French and other 
European Colonies, will be conveyed into West¬ 
phalia, the circles of the Upper and the Lower 
Rhine, and, along the Mein, into the heart of 
Franconia,' and again into Suabia, Switzerland, and 
Bavaria. The Mediterranean will, in the same 
manner, supply the wants of Switzerland, and those 
of Piedmont, and the Cisalpine Republic, from 
Genoa to Nice. In the other parts of Italy, the 
Commerce of France will be sure to receive that 
preference, which the enjoyment of power invari¬ 
ably confers. The Italian silks, and especially those 
of Piedmont, will give to the Silk Manufactures of 
France the same superiority which the Wool of 
Spain confers on her Cloths. The Oils of Calabria 
will supply the Soap Manufactories of Marseilles. 
Turkey, by the force of habit, the temptation of 
proximity, and the influence of fear, will be 
brought back to the use of French Manufactures* 
Sprain, even before the War, w as, and a fortiori 
now, will be, tributary to French industry. In 
none of these nations, can we expect to maintain a 


compe- 


LORD HAWKESBURY. IQq 

competition, at once against the distance of situa¬ 
tion, the cheapness of labour, and the dependence 
of the countries themselves upon France. Besides, 
will the British Merchants ever be tempted to ven- 
ture their goods, to any amount, in countries open 
to the French Arms ? Was the neutrality of the 
Grand Duke of Tuscany sufficient to protect the 
British warehouses at Leghorn, though that Prince 
was the brother of our most powerful ally ? Would 
it protect them, now, then, when the country be¬ 
longs to the phantom of a King, set up by Buona¬ 
parte, the creature of his will, and the abject 
dependent on his power? No, my Lord, though* 
the promises of Buonaparte may be deemed a 
satisfactory guarantee by some of our Statesmen, I 
strongly suspect that our merchants will be little 
disposed to risk their property on the faith of such 
a security. 

By the restitution of all the Spice Islands, ex¬ 
cept Ceylon, our commerce in that article is greatly 
reduced. At the beginning of the late War, the 
Americans had not more than eight or ten ships em¬ 
ployed in the India trade; they have, at this time. 
Upwards of two hundred; and, assuredly, the French 
P will 


106 


LETTERS TO 


will rather purchase the productions of that country 
from them than from us. 

The French West-India colonies, which pro¬ 
duce sugar, coffee, cotton, and indigo, will greatly 
exceed our own, in extent, population, and value; 
and, consequently, they will, ’ere long, have a much 
greater quantity of the produce of the West-Indies 
to dispose of in the European markets, than our¬ 
selves; while, at the same time, they will have a 
more extensive market for their commodities. Our 
manufactories of the finer cottons will, in all pro¬ 
bability, preserve their superiority for some time; 
but the . coarser productions of the French ma¬ 
nufactories will be cheaper than ours, and will 
consequently find a readier sale in Germany, and 
generally throughout the Continent, where motives 
of habit and economy have a very general influ¬ 
ence. Will not the difficulty, which our merchants 
must experience in the recovery of the sums, which 
they have expended in the French colonies (now 
going into the hands of Buonaparte), induce 
them to embark still deeper in such enterprizes, 
the moment they find them in possession of a power, 
able and willing to afford them protection ? Should 

this 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 107 

this be the case, no inconsiderable part of our capital 
Will be employed in enriching our enemies. Un¬ 
happily, too, many of our countrymen, driven from 
their native land by the load of necessary taxes, 
which they will long have to support, attracted by 
the magnificent monuments of the arts, by political 
curiosity, by the pleasures of a capital, which will 
offer numberless ’temptations, to the children of 
wealth and indolence j by the moderate expense 
which will be necessary for the full gratification of 
their different tastes, will be the means of transport¬ 
ing another portion of our capital to France. And, 
Heaven knows ! what principles and what manners 
they will bring back with them in return for their 
money! Religion, morality, and patriotism, tremble 
at the thought. 

It is evident that the chief, or rather, the only, 
obstacle to the sudden revival of trade and industry 
in France, is, the want of capital. For the accom¬ 
plishment of this grand object, nothing else is re¬ 
quisite for a country, so favoured by nature; nor 
indeed, is the laborious activity of her inhabitapts 
inferior to the abundance and variety of her natural 
productions. This very want of capital opens a 
wide field of speculation to foreigners of every 
P 2 country; 


108 


LETTERS TO 


country; and it is to be expected that the English, 
the Dutch, and flie Swiss, will not fail to avail 
themselves of such an opening. A man who would 
merely vegetate in England on a capital of five, 
six, or even ten thousand pounds, would, with the 
aid of industry, rapidly acquire an immense fortune 
in France. The difference of language and reli¬ 
gion, it is to be feared, would present but trivial 
obstacles to emigration, for French is almost uni¬ 
versally spoken; and, in these times, unfortunately, 
religion has very little influence on the actions of 
men. The love of their country, that best and 
noblest of passions, will, it is to be dreaded, prove 
a still weaker inducement to keep them at home; 
for the country of men, whose pursuit is money , or 
pleasure , is that, in which they can gain the most. 
Besides, my Lord, what is called public or national 
spirit, is nearly extinguished in Europe. Many 
causes, which it is needless for me to specify, had 
sensibly weakened it every where; the French or 
Jacobinical Revolution completed its destruction* 
aiid, perhaps, this is the most fatal blow, which it 
has inflicted on social order. It is, in principle, a 
moral Revolution, and a political Revolution only- 
in its effects. Hence, it is general, not merely in 


\ • 

LORD HAWKESSURY. 10£ 

all nations, but in every description of men. The 
division of mankind is no longer regulated by coun¬ 
tries; a man is no longer considered as a Briton, a 
Russian, a Dane, or a Dutchman, but as a Jacobin 
or an Anti-Jacobin, as a friend or an enemy to the 
French Government, which is no longer the Go¬ 
vernment of a nation, but the Government of a 
sect, of which France is the first and most impor¬ 
tant conquest. If any spark of public spirit be still 
to be found in Europe, it is in France that we must 
look for it. The very origin of the Revolution, 
the signal successes which have marked its pro¬ 
gress, the military glory, and the „ decided supe¬ 
riority, which the French nation have acquired by 
it, all combine to attach the people to the soil 
which gave it birth. There this public spirit even- 
pervaded their armies; crowds of Austrian deser¬ 
ters joined the Republican standard, while the num¬ 
ber of French deserters was comparativelyTew, even 
at a time when the French Volunteers were forced 
into the service, and led hand-cuffed and fettered 
to the army, where they were in want of every¬ 
thing. You cannot be ignorant, my Lord, that 
Great-Britain contains a considerable number of 
these zealous partizans of the Jacobinical sect. 

They 


210 


LETTERS TO 


They no longer take the trouble to conceal their 
sentiments. Do you suppose that the love of their 
country will keep in England, men, whom political 
fanaticism, a well-founded hope of gain, and the 
cheapness of all the enjoyments of life, so strongly 
invite to emigrate to France ? They will take their 
fortunes with them; and this will produce another 
diminution of our capital. But, Heaven send, 
they may all emigrate, even with their riches, 
and transport to the opposite side of the Channel, 
their parricidal hatred of their country, which is 
infinitely more dangerous, while they remain here^ 
than it could be if they resided among our ene* 
mies. 

In a word, in France, and in all the countries 
which acknowledge her sway, French commerce 
W’ill have a decided preference over our own. And 
the utmost we can expect, in other countries, which 
still retain their independence, is to be placed upon 
an equal footing with her. On which side, then, 
is the ultimate advantage ? I have shown, that our 
commerce will lose by the Peace, in the Mediter¬ 
ranean, in the East-Indies, in the West-Indies, and, 
lastly, in our ow r n Manufactures. Where then has 

it 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 


Hi 


it gained? Th^ Commercial Treaty, which is to be 
signed at Amiens, or elsewhere, will no doubt in¬ 
form us. 

So much, my Lord, have you done for 
our Commerce; and I am very apprehensive, that 
the same Peace has inflicted a more deadly blow on 
our external consequence. The consideration, 
which a government enjoys in the estimation of 
foreign powers, constitutes one of its most import¬ 
ant possessions. It is at once the appendage of its 
power, its wisdom, and its equity. It is, in some 
sort, the standard of its external power. Before 
the Peace of the 1st of October, Great-Britain en¬ 
joyed the most exalted and extensive consideration, 
and that too of the most honourable kind. Her 
tutelary power was only exerted for the purpose of 
protection, never for the infliction of injury. Other 
nations only looked up to her for support, and never 
considered her as an object of apprehension. Even 
the success of our enemy on the Continent, only 
served to increase her consequence, by directing 
their supplications and their hopes to her. Here, 
my Lord, you stand, as it were, upon your own 
ground; and you will, no doubt, think it the height 
of presumption in me, to attack you on it; never¬ 
theless I shall make the attempt. 


The 


112 


LETTERS TO 


The Sublime Porte, my Lord, has just afforded 
us a proof of the estimation in which she holds our 
consequence, in the Treaty of Peace, which she 
signed with France, eight days after the conclusion 
of your own Treaty. By this Treaty she grants 
the same privileges to the usurpers as to the libera¬ 
tors of Europe, not only in the other parts of her 
dominions, but in Egypt itself; in that country, 
for the recovery of which she is exclusively in¬ 
debted to our arms, and which we might still have 
kept in spite of her. Buonaparte, in this Treaty, 
adds insult to outrage, by the insertion of a clause 
as impudently at variance with truth, as adverse 
to the glory of our arms ; in which it is said, 
“ The French will evacuate Egypt.” Will not you, 
my Lord, cause this egregious error to be rectified, 
and take some means for preventing the name of 
Great-Britain from becoming henceforth the sport 
of nations ? 

Such is the position in which we voluntarily 
leave the Porte, that in signing this Treaty, she 
has done nothing more than attempt to provide 
for her own safety. Shall we enjoy any influence 
with the Sovereign of Piedmont? He is no longer 


in 


lord" HAWKESRURY, ' 113 

in existence. With the King of Naples and the 
Pope ? They no longer exist but in name. With 
Spain and Portugal ? Your Treaty, by multiplying 
the dangers which threaten their American settle¬ 
ments, from an invasion by the French, and by 
diminishing the means of preventing it, has com¬ 
pleted the subjugation of these two powers, and 
removed the only cause which compelled the French 
Government to observe some degree of forbearance 
towards them. With the Swiss ? We have now as 
little connection with them, as with any of the 
wandering tribes which inhabit Mount Caucasus. 
With the States of Germany inclosed, on one side, 
by France, on the other by Prussia and Austria, 
and which might with propriety be called the 
Germanic Body, since the Emperor is its head and 
the King of Prussia its destroyer? They would all 
of them tremble at the bare thought of a French 
army. With Prussia ? We may judge of her par¬ 
tiality, by the unprovoked invasion of Hanover, 
which was under His Majesty’s immediate, legal, 
and certainly not gratuitous protection, both as 
Director of the Circle of Lower Saxony, and as 
head of the Armed Neutrality of the North of Ger¬ 
many. If the King ot Prussia’s partiality was the 
Q, effect 


LETTERS TO 


m 

effect of fear, six months ago (for a King, conquer¬ 
ing from cowardice , is one of the most curious 
phenomena of the present day), what will become 
of that partiality, now that our enemy rules without 
obstacle, and without a diversion, over the whole 
extent of Europe ? The partiality of Denmark and 
Sweden for France, for the last ten years, is un¬ 
fortunately but too notorious, and I have before 
shown that such a partiality will, henceforth, be 
pointed out by political wisdom. 

Russia and Austria still remain to be consi¬ 
dered. These distant countries are only accessible 
to us by two points 5 the first, during four months 
in the year, by Riga and Saint Petersburgh; the 
second, by Trieste and Venice. We could sail to 
America in less time. The Emperor of Russia has, 
of late, betrayed an indifference to the question, to 
which, indeed, the distance of his territories may, 
in some degree, have contributed. The Emperor 
of Germany was our ally, because France threatened 
him, and we threatened France. The alliance will 
probably continue, because France now threatens 
us both. What a change have the motives of our al¬ 
liances undergone ? 

Lastly* 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 115 

Lastly, have we retained any influence over 
Holland, over that country which was our natural 
friend, whose existence depended on our alliance, 
and the conquest of which threatens our own inde¬ 
pendence ? No; Holland has, in fact, become a 
province of France. Its government, even if it 
were truly free and independent, would be an ene¬ 
my to our government, if only because it has usurped 
the place of the Stadtholder. All that I have said 
on this subject may be summed up in these few 
words: What have we done for our allies by the 
Peace?— Nothing. —What can we do for them 
henceforth?— Nothing. —What consequence shall 
we, in future, possess ?— None at all. —Our ene¬ 
my, then, has the whole world for him, and Great- 
Britain against him. When I say Great-Britain, it 
is not Great-Britain, victorious in every quarter of 
the globe, rich, mistress of the sea, and of all the 
sources and all the channels of commerce;—but 
Great-Britain, tarnished, mutilated and dishonoured. 
We may, then, with propriety, now apply to our¬ 
selves Virgil’s observation on our ancestors, in the 
time of Augustus— 

Et penitus toto divisos orbe Britanncs. 

Q 2 Remember, 


116 


LETTERS TO 


Remember, my Lord, that, not long after this 
observation was made, Britain became a province ol 
the Roman Empire. 

I am. 

My Lord, 

Your Lordship’s most humble 
and most obedient servant, 

Wm. cobbett. 

P.S. My Lord, my opinion respecting the 
commercial projects of the French is fully corrobo¬ 
rated by the following article, which appeared in 
the Journal des Dchats of the 26 th Vendemiaire 
(Oct. 16 th) entitled, A Short View of the Prelimi¬ 
naries of Peace with England , which article, for 
the convenience of your Lordship, I will endeavour 
to translate into our mother tongue. 

“ Those who have estimated Ceylon and Tri- 
<e nidada merely according to their superficial con- 
(C tents, have not discovered a much greater degree 
" of information in examining the Treaty, as re- 

“ lating 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 


117 


cc lating to the interests of France. Scarcely do 
cc they seem to have perceived the port of Antwerp , 
<c which is so celebrated in the annals of commerce, 
cc and which, situated, as it is, between the Southern 
“ and Northern Seas, will now become the grand 
“ market of all Germany. At a single glance over 
our European conquests, we perceive the im- 
“ mensity of territory, of population, and of 
“ strength, that we have acquired; but, it will 
require long study and meditation to enable us 
“ to estimate the industry and the wealth, which 
“ will be added to our commercial system, and to 
“ teach us how vast the commerce of Belgium 
“ always has been, notwithstanding the restric- 
“ tions laid on her by England and Holland. The 
“ hemp, flax, and timber, which have heretofore 
“ been brought to us by the Dutch, as produc- 
“ tions of the Baltic, will now come to us directly 
“ from the Electorates; and, indeed, the Rhine, 
« the Meuse, and the Scheldt, which the Peace 
< c leaves entirely at our command, will give us, on 
“ the Continent, a commercial superiority, equal to 
“ that which we have obtained in the cabinet and 
fe in the field. 


“ Nor 


118 


LETTERS TO 


<c Nor is the Peace less favourable to our great- 
“ ness and prosperity in other parts of the world. 
“ The genius of our Government has opened to 
<c the commerce and to the squadrons of France> 
<c the Cape of Good Hope, that bulwark of 
4C India. The importance of this acquisition can 
“ be fully estimated by those only, zvho are ac- 
t( quainted zvith the character, the disposition , and 
“ the political situation of the inhabitants of Asia. 
“ Ever since 1756 , England has destroyed the ba- 
“ lance of European power beyond the Cape of 
“ Good Hope; and, if she now gains, by the de- 
tc tention of Ceylon, an accession of strength, in 
“ that quarter, she thereby loses, for ever, all the 
“ advantages, which she derived from the friend- 
€C ship and the alliance of Holland, whose politics 
“ she too long influenced, both in Europe and in 
“ Asia. Thus, the Peace gives us back all our 
“ Asiatic possessions, and policy will add the Cape 
“ of Good Hope, together with a decided influence 
“ over Holland, and will revive the connection so 
“ happily formed, zvith the Indian Princes , by Du - 
“ pleix. Labourdonnaye, and Bussi . c Syms/ says 
“ the author of the Traite d'Economic politique , 
45 gives us an excellent key to the politics of India: 

“ he 


LORD HAWKESBUR Y. 


119 


44 he tells us, that, while he was on his embassy, 
44 and particularly while he was negotiating a treaty 
44 of commerce with the Emperor of Birmans, he 
44 was well or ill treated according to the nature of 
44 the news, which circulated in Asia, respecting 
44 the situation of France. Our triumphs, orourde- 
44 feats, were the criterion of this Prince’s delibera- 
44 tions.” 

44 In the western hemisphere, Martinico, Saint 
44 Lucia, and Tobago, return to the arms of the 
44 mother country, loaded with English improvc- 
44 ment, English industry, and English capital.— 
44 Our colonies owe even their former riches to the 
44 tempory possession of them by the English. 
44 Martinico now comes back to us in a state the 
44 most flourishing that can be conceived, while 
44 Saint Lucia and Tobago will soon acquire a first 
44 rate place in the colonial system, heretofore too 
44 little attended to by our Government. 

44 French Guyana, happily situated to the wind- 
44 ward of the Island, has been enlarged in extent by 
44 a cession of part of the territory of Portugal” [not¬ 
withstanding the 44 integrity of our allies,” my Lord], 
44 and opens to an enlightened government a vast 
44 field for speculation, agricultural, commercial, 
i<4 and military. 

7 44 The 



120 


LETTERS TO 


cc The magnificent” [the word is not misap¬ 
plied] “ colony of Saint Domingo, now greatly 
66 augmented by the addition of the Spanish part of 
cs the island, will resume her former prosperity; 
6C and, if we have the policy to unite the industry 
“ of the colonist with the warlike spirit of the buc- 
fic caneer , the Islands will soon become to her what 
cc Europe is to France.,” 


LETTER 


1 


lord hawkesbxjry. 122 


LETTER IX. 

Pall-Mall , 4 th Nov. 1801 

My Lord, 

Upon taking my leave of your Lordship, 1 could 
have wished to present you with a summary of whab 
perhaps, you have not had leisure to peruse in de¬ 
tail ; but, so fertile is the Treaty that you have sign¬ 
ed, that, upon a review of the .preceding Letters, I 
perceive them to contain little more than a mere 
enumeration of evils. In the conclusion, therefore, 
of my long and painful task, I shall content myself 
with a recapitulation of a few of the principal points. 

The Peace takes from England a great number 
of rich colonies and important naval stations, not to 
replace them in the hands of friendly or neutral 
powers, but in those of our enemy.—It endangers 
those distant possessions which are still ours, by ad¬ 
mitting the French into their neighbourhood, and, 
of course, by exposing them to their arms and their 
more dangerous intrigues.—It wholly deprives us of 
R 


some 


122 LETTERS 'fO 

some of the most considerable branches of our com¬ 
merce, it diminishes all the other, and, here as every 
where else, what is taken from us, is given to the power 
which has been* which is, and which will be, bent on 
our destruction.—We had but one dangerous neigh¬ 
bour, and this Peace has rendered her a thousand times 
more dangerous than ever, by adding 300 miles to 
the length of her coast. She had but one port which 
was formidable to us, and that was opposite a part 
of our Island far distant from the seat of our riches; 
but the Peace furnishes her with ports in abundance 
opposite the mouth of the Thames* From the 
masts of her vessels, riding at anchor in these ports, 
she can see the shore, whereon she wishes to disem¬ 
bark ; nor is this shore, for above 120 miles along 
^he coast, more than 60, and, in some places not 
more than 40, miles from London—Before the War 
there was but one naval power capable of contend¬ 
ing with us: this power is still our enemy. We had 
destroyed a great part of her navy, and that of her 
two maritime allies; but, the Peace gives her the 
full and permanent possession of those three navies, 
one of which had been long accustomed to fight by 
our side ; and, she will find, in her immense acqui¬ 
sitions, a super-abundance of all the materials neces¬ 
sary 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 123 

sary to the re-estahlishment of her maritime force, 
while the principal rivers of Southern Europe, which 
are all at her command, will convey these materials 
into her newdy-acquired ports, opposite the mouth of 
the Thames.—Our enemy stood in need of seamen: 
the Peace at once restores 30,000 of her own, and 
will send into her service 30,000 of ours.—This 
enemy, rendered all-pcnverful on the Continent hy 
the Peace, which will consolidate her domination, 
jeft us no hope of any diversion on that side, nor, 
indeed, any thing to preserve us from her attacks 
but our naval superiority, which the Peace furnishes 
her with the means of taking from us at a day, far 
less distant than many are willing to believe. That 
day, my Lord, will be the day of a complete and 
universal revolution, the signal of which will be, 
our relinquishment of the sovereignty of that sea, 
which our forefathers named the British Channel , 
and which w r e must now add to the title and the lilies , 
already yielded, not to the descendants of St. Louis, 
but to the grovelling republican despots, who have 
usurped their authority and their dominions.—This 
state of danger, with regard both to the mother 
country and the colonies, will now become* our un¬ 
interrupted inheritance: we must, therefore, keep 
R 2 ourselves 


124 LETTERS TO 

ourselves constantly upon the defensive, by sea as 
well as by land, which will cause a permanent aug¬ 
mentation of taxes; and, after all, the success of 
our defensive system will ever be extremely precari¬ 
ous.—We had a great number of allies. The Peace 
leaves us not one. There is not, at this day, a nation 
upon earth that would not as soon have our enmity as 
our friendship.—In short, this fatal Peace, curtails our 
possessions, diminishes our commerce and our re¬ 
venue, augments our permanent expenses, exposes 
us to continual danger within and without; and, 
which is worse than all the rest, it blasts for ever 
the honour of England: it is at once injurious, pre^ 
carious, dangerous, and disgraceful. And, yet, my 
Lord, you call on us to I'ejoice ! The Jacobins may, 
indeed, rejoice with reason and with sincerity; for 
this peace gives to them a greater victory, than the 
battle of Marengo gave to Buonaparte ; the latter 
decided the fate of Italy, but the former has decided 
the fate of the universe. 

And, where are we to look for the reasons 
which dictated this destructive and dishonourable 
Peace ? At the time when your Lordship gave it 
your sanction, had France obtained over us a supe¬ 
riority so great, that you could not refuse, nay, that 

you 


LORD HAWKESBTJRY. 


125 


you were called upon to offer her, without any 
equivalent, so many valuable possessions, all of 
which were totally inaccessible to her arms? If that 
be the case, we must confess, however humiliating 
the confession may be, that w r e are no longer the 
rival, but the dependant and the vassal of France. 
And, how shall we ever dare to dispute any thing 
with this power, aggrandized by all our losses ? It 
will be more dangerous to refuse her Ireland , at any 
future period, than it wmuld, heretofore, have been 
to refuse her Martinico ; for, it is in vain to disguise 
the fact, that she can now wrest the former from us 
with much greater facility than she could have re¬ 
covered the latter. There are men, my Lord, who 
have the impudence to repeat, that the cessions 
which we have made, have preserved our allies; 
but the truth is, that these cessions have only 
imposed on us the necessity to redeem our allies 
as often as Buonaparte pleases. It will not 
be with conquests that we shall hereafter have 
to pay their ransom: your treaty has left us none. 
We must abandon them to the first usurpation, or 
jedeem them, even for a short space, at the expense 
of our own territory. In a late proclamation, well 
calculated to give Europe a correct opinion of his 
moderation, Buonaparte, not less generous as an 
a enemy 


126 


LETTERS TO 


.enemy than magnanimous as a conqueror - , has thus 
'Candidly communicated his grand secret: “ The 
“ French Government, always great, always just, 
“ will keep only those of its conquests, which are 
<e given to it by nature, and which its safety re - 
£< quires. If it retains certain provinces belonging 
“ to Portugal, it is only to force the perfidious 
* { English to give up the Colonies , which they have 
“ taken from ns, and from our Allies by surprise ” 
Thus, my Lord, whenever Buonaparte, who, at 
this very moment, is giving such striking proofs of 
his moderation in Switzerland, in Holland, and in 
Italy, shall wish “ to force the perfidious English’* 
to cede to him Ceylon, Jamaica, Gibraltar, &c. &c. 
he has only to have recourse to his infallible secret * 
that is, to seize on Portugal. As to another war> 
on our part, the thing is next to impossible . 

There remains, then, my Lord, no evasion, no 
subterfuge, nothing to justify this Peace, but neces¬ 
sity. Necessity, irresistible necessity is the only plea, 
which can possibly, without a total abandonment 
of principle, be urged in justification of a measure, 
which has blasted the prosperity, enfeebled the 
power, tarnished the glory, and endangered the 
safety of Great-Britain. But, my Lord, real ne¬ 
cessity, wherever it exists, is not a thing to be hid- 

T 

den 


tORI> HAWKESBURY, 127 

den or feigned. Its characteristics are not equivo¬ 
cal : its tremendous voice is not to be smothered: 
it is neither to be shunned nor resisted. Han¬ 
nibal, who was born and bred in a hatred of Rome, 
who lived but for her destruction, and who em¬ 
braced death with transport, when the enemy of 
his country had enslaved the world; Hannibal, 
who did not content himself vrith making, in the 
Senate, a vapouring proposition to march to Rome, 
but who did actually march thither from the re¬ 
motest corner of Spain, yielded at last to imperious 
necessity ; and, after the battle of Zama, sued for 
Peace, of which, though such as might be expected 
from a vindictive and all-powerful conqueror, he 
w T as the first to advise his countrymen to accept. 
This, my Lord, is a high example in your favour; 
but, if men of the most irifrepid courage do some¬ 
times yield to real necessity, the phantom of neces¬ 
sity much oftener appals the heart and influences 
the conduct of the coward. 

When your Lordship signed the Peace of 
Downing-Street, had our enemy tom from us not 
only all our conquests, but also a p'hf: of our own 
territory ? Had we lost a decisive’ battle under the 
walls of our capital, and, with the remnant of our 
forces, our last hope and resource ? No, my Lord, 

the 


128 l£tters to 

the numerous conquests, which we had made front 
France and her Allies, were all in our hands, and 
the enemy had even ceased to attempt to disturb us 
in the possession of them. Not a single hostile sol¬ 
dier had his foot on any part of our vast empire. 
Our enemies were, indeed, full of hatred and ma¬ 
lice, but they could not reach us. We had been in 
pursuit of them, into a country a thousand leagues 
from our coasts, where we had just made prisoners 
of war a whole army, composed of their chosen 
troops, and more numerous than our own. Had 
our fleets (the floating ramparts of Britain) been 
beaten, or had they, by their flight from the enemy, 
exposed our coasts to his ravages ?—No, my Lord, 
ten years of victory without a single defeat had 
been the lot of our navy, and ten years of defeat 
without a single victory that of the navy of France. 
That navy was no longer to be seen on the ocean. 
A great part of it we had destroyed, another consi. 
derable part had been added to our own navy, and 
the miserable remainder w r as hidden in the ports of 
France, where it scarcely found shelter from the as¬ 
saults of ova's Rea men. Had we any thing to appre¬ 
hend from invasion ? No, my Lord, after the battle 
of Camperdown, in 1797, our enemies, having no 

hopes 


LORD HAWKES3URY. 129 

hopes of coming at us with their fleets, had re¬ 
course, or pretended to have recourse, to the ridi¬ 
culous invention of rafts, to convey their devastating 
hordes to our coasts, an invention which they threw 
aside the moment they perceived that it no longer 
gave alarm to the credulous and cowardly inhabitants 
of London and Westminster. They were too cun¬ 
ning to think seriously of opposing the infancy to 
the manhood of navigation, the raft of the savage to 
the ships of Great-Britain, and they themselves were 
the first to laugh at their farcical preparations. 
Since that epocha, my Lord, our enemy has lost 
more than thirty ships of the line and fifty frigates ; 
and, was our spirit so debased, were we become 
such despicable poltroons, as to dread the efforts of 
this crippled and almost annihilated navy? It was 
no longer with ships of war/for the enemy had none; 
it was no longer with rafts, for they were become a 
subject of derision; it was with barks, with bateaux* 
with barges, with lighters, that Great-Britain was 
to be invaded! A disembarkation, from a fleet like 
this, of thirty thousand men, or even fifty thousand, 
with our war establishment on foot, might, indeed, 
have given us some trouble, but it would have been 
followed by a total defeat of the enemy, and would 
have freed us, for ever after, from all alarms of inva- 
S sion J 


ISO 


LETTERS TO 


sion; the day of such a descent would have been 
much more fortunate for England, than that, on 
which the timid councils of our cabinet exposed the 
country, not to thd hostility of a few thousands of 
men, almost naked, and disarmed, in a string of 
frail and defenceless boats; but to that of one or 
more powerful armies, perfectly armed, accoutred, 
and provided, conveyed in the innumerable vessels? 
which will, in a very short time, swarm from the 
multiplied ports of the enemy, and escorted by 
squadrons capable of defending them on the passage, 
and of covering their disembarkation. In that day, 
my Lord, we may, perhaps, see the Hero of the 
Nile himself (the shade of Hannibal will not rise 
to protest against this comparison) dissuading his 
countrymen from resistance, and exhorting them to 
submission. In that fatal day, my Lord, Buona¬ 
parte, or, perchance, his successor, will only exe¬ 
cute the death-warrant, which was signed on the 
1st of October, 1801. 

That our fleets, or our armies, wanted either 
skill or courage, will hardly be asserted, even by 
those who made a merit with the nation of having 
obtained the “ evacuation ” of Egypt: nor is it 
true,, that the nation at large, though considerably 

debauched 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 


131 


debauched and debased by the Philanthropists and 
Jacobins, was totally destitute of that spirit, which 
animated our forefathers, and which raised the name 
of England amongst the highest nations of the 
earth.—Whenever the Government called upon the 
people for their support in the cause of justice and 
of honour, that support was cheerfully given, of the 
truth of which the War with the Northern Powers 
furnished a striking and memorable proof. That 
war was purely a War of honour. The Northern 
Confederacy was formed to compel us to forego a 
right, which we inherited from our ancestors: the 
people were not tempted by any prospect of plun¬ 
der, nor driven on by the dread of revolution; but, 
on the contrary, they knew the War would injure 
their immediate interests, and that they had nothing 
to fear for their safety, though it should not take 
place. They were, in short, urged by no mean 
selfish consideration; the object was fair and ho¬ 
nourable ; it was stated to them fairly and honour¬ 
ably, and therefore, it was, that the War had their 
cordial support; notwithstanding a combination of 
circumstances, well calculated to break the spirit 
of the proudest nation upon earth. At the moment 
when we had just lost our most powerful ally, we 
S 2 were 


132 


LETTERS TO 


were attacked by a maritime confederacy of four 
great nations, two of whom had it in their power 
ttf do infinite injury to our trade, while the others 
could, and did, shut against us the granaries of the 
North, and that, too, in a time of alarming scar¬ 
city ; yet, never was there a War that had a more 
cordial support from the people at large ; never did 
the nation appear so great; on the day in which 
Great-Britain declared War against the Northern 
Powers, she appeared as great as she did at Acra, 
greater than at Aboukir or under the walls of Alex¬ 
andria. It was not the remembrance of that day, 
my Lord, that dictated your answer to the arrogant 
propositions of our most malignant and implacable 
foe. 

But, my Lord, you have disclaimed the plea 
of necessity , of any and of every sort. With what 
view you and yo.ur colleagues do this in one place, 
while you hold an exactly contrary language in 
another, and while your ignorant partisans exhaust 
their lungs in a repetition of the word necessity , is 
a secret too profound for me to penetrate : I only 
beg leave to. remind your Lordship, that, your dis¬ 
avowal of the plea of necessity , however solemn, 
and however strongly backed with the no less 
solemn asseveration of the Chancellor of the 

Ex che- 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 133 

Exchequer, has produced no rise in the funds, no 
confidence in those who hold the only scales, capa¬ 
ble of weighing the declarations of Ministers of 
State. I will further say, my Lord, that however 
outward appearances may, at present contradict 
me, there are ninety-nine out of every hundred 
thinking men in the nation, who regard the Peace 
that you have made as injurious, precarious, dan¬ 
gerous, and disgraceful -, and, if there existed no 
real necessity for making it, nor, in the minds of 
you and your colleagues, any conviction of such 
necessity, where shall we look for the motive by 
which you have been urged to this deed ? 

If, however, notwithstanding all its disadvan¬ 
tages and all its dangers, the Peace which you have 
signed could be regarded as solid and durable 5 if 
the expensive Peace-establishment, which it renders 
necessary, and which, to use the words of the 
Speech from the Throne, is essential effectually to 
provide security of our possessions, whence it 
seems to follow that your Peace supplies only a 
nominal and apparent not an effectual security 3 if, 
I say, this new military establishment left 11 s no 
Wars to dread from the same enemy, who has sold 
us Peace at so dear a rate, we might still descry a 

8 ray 


134- 


letters TO 


ray of consolation in our future prospects, and 
hope to find, in tranquil obscurity, some relief, 
some mitigation of the painful recollection of our 
past greatness. The situation of Great-Britain, 
both af home and abroad, would no doubt be, re¬ 
latively and comparatively, bad. Loaded with a 
debt, which, even on the 1st of January, 1801, 
amounted to the enormous sum of <£497,572,422 ; 
a debt, the interest of which absorbs a revenue 
greater than that of any State in Europe (our enemy 
excepted), while France has washed away her debt 
in the blood of her creditors; encumbered with a 
military force, estimated by many, who even doubt 
its sufficiency, at triple the force, which we main¬ 
tained before the War, while France can support 
a much larger establishment at a much less expense, 
and even quarter an immense army in Holland, 
Switzerland, Piedmont, the Ligurian and Cisalpine 
Republics;—despoiled, by the voluntary loss of so 
many colonies, and other advantages, transferred 
to France, as well as of several important branches 
of her commerce, the British nation, although 
fallen from the proud eminence on which she stood 
and descended (I do not say cast , my Lord) into the 
croud of second-rate Powers, might still with the 

aid 


LORD HAWKESBURY, 135 

.aid of her capital and her industry, maintain an 
arduous struggle against this combination of ad¬ 
verse circumstances;—and, by the adoption of a 
rigid economy, hitherto foreign from the national 
character, but now become a matter of imperious- 
necessity, might still find, in the improvement of 
her own territory, and in the cultivation of her, 
colonies, and of those branches of commerce, 
which you, my Lord, have suffered her to retain, 
an existence, if not brilliant and honourable, at 
least supportable, and, if you will, comfortable ! 

But this supposition of a state of permanent 
tranquillity, is, my Lord, perfectly chimerical. From 
1688 to 1801, an interval of 113 years, we have 
had six different Wars to maintain against France 
that is to say, from 1688 to 1697 ; from 1702 to 
1713 ; from 1740 to 1746; from 1755 to 1762 ; 
from 1778 to 1782 ; and, though last not least, 
from 1793 to 1801 ; making a period of forty-nine 
years. Many of these Wars originated in the am¬ 
bition of the French Monarchs; and some of them, 
perhaps, in the restless jealousy of our own com¬ 
mercial spirit. I admit, my Lord, that, in future, 
from the situation in which your Lordship has 
placed usj we shall very rarely be the aggressors. 

But 


136 


LETTERS to 


But French ambition will still continue to operate 
as a motive to War; nor will it, I imagine, be 
contended, that its influence will have been ren¬ 
dered less powerful, by the transmutation of a Mo¬ 
narchy, limited at home and confined abroad by 
other Powers nearly equal to it in force, into a Re¬ 
public, or, rather, a political association of sol¬ 
diers, governed in a military manner, by a military 
Aristocracy (for, from the Great Consul himself, 
to the lowest Gendarme , all the agents of the Go- 
vernment are officers, as all its subjects are sol¬ 
diers), more numerous, including the subjugated and 
tributary states, than all the rest of Europe together ; 
and whose absolute dominion over the Powers of 
the Continent, the most consummate ignorance* 
the most inveterate prejudice, or the most wilful 
obstinacy, can alone deny. 

Besides, my Lord, France will unquestionably 
become a party in any dispute, which may here¬ 
after arise between Great-Britain and the Northern, 
or any other, Powers of the Continent. Her sup¬ 
port will ever be given to our adversaries; and her 
hacknied pretext of protecting the world against 
the Despotism of England , will be ever in her 
mouth. Tliis is the rudiment, the very alphabet, 

used 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 1ST 

used in the school of usurpation. Was it not the 
unvaried policy of the Romans to protect the weak 
against the strong• the Achaeans and Etolians 
against Philip; the Kings of Africa against Car¬ 
thage ? And did they not constantly finish by swal¬ 
lowing up, indifferently, friends and enemies; 
those Powers which had preserved a strict neutra¬ 
lity, and those to which they had extended their 
protection? The most trifling dispute, then, with 
any Power on the globe, will be a subject of hu¬ 
miliation to usj if we yield to France, and a ground 
of War if we assert our rights. We cannot hope 
always to have such a harmless Administration as 
the present; and it is, therefore, impossible, but 
that, sooner or later, we must again have cause to 
go to War with France. 

Under what auspices, under what disadvan¬ 
tages, shall we begin a new War? Not a single 
ally shall we find on the Continent. Those Powers 
who will be most favourably disposed towards us, 
in secret, will deem themselves happy, if France 
will suffer them to remain neuter. The moment 
War shall de declared, the whole Continent, except 
perhaps the ports in the Baltic, will be shut against 
us. We shall find no more partizans of the Stadt- 
T ' HOLDER 


138 


LETTERS TO 


holder to give up the Dutch fleet to us, or to re¬ 
sign the different colonial possessions of Holland 
into our hands; no more French Royalists to invite 
us to Toulon,. Martinico, and St. Domingo; no 
more officers* who, from a rooted principle of loyal¬ 
ty, which will reflect honour on the memory of the 
French nobility, long after the destruction of that 
illustrious body, to resign the command of French 
fleets and armies, in order to fight as private soldiers 
under the banners of a Power, who promised pro* 
tection to their lawful Sovoreign; no more Ven- 
deans, whose heroic perseverance against the most 
execrable tyranny, deluged France with the blood of 
six hundred thousand of her sons. Our blockades 
will no longer be confined to Toulon, Brest, and 
Rochefort; they must be extended along the whole 
of the coast whicl} reaches from Ancona to the 
Texel. Our enemies will possess numerous colo¬ 
nies, and important naval stations in the four quar¬ 
ters of the world. Thus we shall have to guard 
against attacks wherever we have a possession open 
to attack. The most fertile imagination cannot con¬ 
ceive, much less can the most active vigilance pre-> 
vent, that infinite number of military combinations* 
and plans of attack, which such a complicated state 

of 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 139 

of things will suggest to the insatiate ambition and 
the restless and inventive spirit of the French. But 
why talk of distant possessions, when our attention 
will, in all human probability, be limited to the de¬ 
fence of our own Island, our own homes, our own 
existence, threatened, at every point, by that mons¬ 
trous power, whose whole malice and whose wdiole 
force will be directed against Great-Britain herself? 
Intent only on averting present destruction, all our 
cares, all our efforts, will be confined to the field of 
battle, on which our fate must be decided. But 
what would be our lot, my Lord, if this enemy, to 
whose good faith you have confided interests so dear 
to us, and so opposed to his own, should, by an act 
of perfidy which would set a seal upon all preten¬ 
sions of a similar nature, and at the same time, ren¬ 
der the repetition of them perfectly needless, attack 
us in time of peace !—I turn from the contempla¬ 
tion of this horrid prospect, on which, however, it 
will be the first duty of His Majesty’s Ministers to 
keep their eyes constantly fixed. 

But the noisy partisans of Peace , of any Peace 
whatever , even of the name of Peace, will exclaim-—* 
Is England, then, condemned to wage perpetual 
War with France ? Yes, my Lord, she is ; and it 
is your Peace which has reduced her to this lament- 
x 2 able 


140 


LETTERS TO 


able necessity. It has suddenly transported to 
France a part of our force and of our riches; and in 
a few years it will give her a naval superiority. In 
all quarters, and with inconceivable rapidity, it mul¬ 
tiplies her means of attack, and diminishes our 
means of defence. It leaves our enemy armed and 
prepared; it compels us to remain also under arms. 
This Peace, then, my Lord, is a real state of War; 
for you know, as well as I do, that the duration of 
a siege is not estimated by the days of assault, nor 
the length of a campaign by the days of battle. 

And even had we been obliged to embrace the 
measure of an eternal and active War, instead of this 
eternal and passive War , which you have signed, 
while you fondly imagined you were signing a Peace, 
it perhaps would not be impossible, my Lord, to 
prove that such a War, well conducted, in confor¬ 
mity with our actual position, and limited to its pro¬ 
per objects, would be less expensive than the defen¬ 
sive War, which has become necessary, especially 
when we consider the superiority of trade and re¬ 
venue, which we should enjoy during the existence of 
your Peace;—that such open War should have been 
incomparably more burthensome to France than to 
us;—and that, by harrassing and molesting the 
? - French, 


LORD H A WKESBUR Y. 


141 


French, in all quarters, by excluding them from every 
sea; by deriving their industry of all the raw mate¬ 
rials which their own soil does not produce, and 
their commerce of the carriage and sale of their own 
productions; by compelling them to purchase from 
us many articles of indispensable necessity to them; 
by so increasing and prolonging the discontents, as 
well in France herself, as in countries which she has 
subdued, and by giving to those Powers, who are 
now thrown into consternation by our late conduct, 
a well-founded motive of hope, we should either 
have succeeded in overthrowing the French Govern¬ 
ment, or reduced our enemies to the necessity of 
soliciting from us a Peace, very different indeed 
from that, which they have recently dictated to us. 
A full discussion of this important subject would 
greatly exceed my ability, nor, indeed, would it be 
possible to reduce it within the necessary limits of a 
Letter. I shall, therefore, content myself with hav¬ 
ing suggested it to your Lordship, and leav^ it to 
become the object of your serious reflections, in 
those hours of repose when the Statesman shall give 
place to the Student. 

But, my Lord, amongst so many things to 
hlame, I gladly give my approbation to one part of 

your 


142 LETTERS TO 

your conduct : as a peace-maker you are rather of 
the lamest, but you are an excellent hand at a 
truce ; for you may rest assured that Buonaparte 
will never break his compact with you, until all the 
places which you have so liberally yielded to him, 
shall be safely lodged, either in his own hands, or in 
those of his Dutch and Spanish receivers. 

For the present, my Lord, I think (and here I 
am sure you will agree with me in opinion), it pro, 
per to close my observations on the Peace of Down- 
ing-street, and on the danger and disgrace to which 
it has for ever doomed our country. I cannot, how¬ 
ever, conclude without submitting to your consi¬ 
deration the means of preventing, or rather post¬ 
poning, some of the evils of this Peace. 

The engagement of the 1st of October is cer¬ 
tainly not superior to the first law of every state, 
which is the sains popnli , the first law of nature, self- 
preservation ; but the will of Bounaparte has now 
superseded all law, human and divine, and, there¬ 
fore, if he chooses to hold this fallen kingdom to 
the terms of the Treaty of Peace, she will be there¬ 
unto holden and bound. It remains, then, for us to 
make the best of the hard terms which have been 
dictated to us. The jnore diastrous the conditions 

of 


IORD HAWKESBURY. 145 

of the agreement are, the more necessary it is for 
our Government to insist on an unreserved, unequi¬ 
vocal, and faithful execution of those clauses which 
leave the nation some hope, and some small means 
of palliating the fatal effects of the Treaty in ge¬ 
neral. Now, my Lord, these clauses are: 

1. The real neutrality and independence of 
Malta, so that this most important Island may, as 
far as human prudence can go, be prevented from 
falling into the hands of France, or of Russia, if she 
should be fixed on as the guaranteeing Power. 

2. The freedom of the Cape of Good Hepe > 
an expression to which you, doubtless, attach some 
meaning or other, but in which I can discern none 
at all. 

3. The integrity (if we must talk French) of 
our Allies.—1st. I can hardly think that the inte¬ 
grity of the Porte is secured, when France obliges 
that Power, eight days after the date of our unfor¬ 
tunate and disgraceful Treaty, to recede from its 
engagements with us, and to take from our com¬ 
merce and navigation those favours, which we so 
well deserve at her hands.—2d. You have omitted, 
in speaking of the integrity of Portugal, the words 
« as before the War” They were, in fact, not ne¬ 


cessary ; 


LETTERS TO 


144 

cessary; for the Peace between Portugal and France 
was signed on the 29th of September, at Madrid* 
and your Treaty, in two days afterwards, at Lon¬ 
don : the French and English Governments, there¬ 
fore, at the time of signing the Treaty between 
them, necessarily looked upon Portugal as in a state 
of War with France, and, consequently, the inte¬ 
grity stipulated for, referred to the commencement 
of the War. The cessions, then, which, by the 
Treaty of the 29th of September, Portugal makes 
to France in South America, are annulled by the 
Treaty of Downing-street, as are also the clauses of 
the Fifth Article of that Treaty, which limit the 
sovereignty of Portugal, with respect to commercial 
regulations, and in direct hostility to Great-Britain. 
Your Lordship has, I know (after consulting your 
friend Citizen Otto) publicly declared, upon being 
asked a second time, that the cessions made to 
France by the Treaty of Madrid, of the 29th Sep¬ 
tember are not now to take place, and that they are 
annulled by the Treaty of Downing-street; but, my 
Lord, the Moniteur , which was received at my house 
much about the same moment that your Lordship 
was making this declaration, informs me, that the 
Treaty of Madrid of the 29th of September, has been 

ratified 


LORD HAWKESBURY. 145 

ratified by the French Government, <e sans aucun 
“ changement” This article of news comes to us 
under the signature of Buonaparte, and the coun¬ 
ter-signature of Talleyrand, a couple of citizens 
who are not apt to cat their words, and whose au¬ 
thority I am sure your Lordship will not dispute, 
though fifty Portugals were at stake. 

In the course of these Letters, my Lord, I 
have troubled you with no predictions on the effects, 
which this Peace will have on the manners, the 
morals, and the politics of this kingdom ; if, after 
what you have seen during the last eleven years, 
you have any doubts on that subject, verily, verily 
I say unto you, in the language of the Gospel, 
“ neither would you believe, though one rose from 
“ the dead.” 

I remain, my Lord, 

Your Lordship’s most obedient. 

And most humble Servant, 

Wm. COBBET^F - 


u 


/ 


LETTERS 


TO THE 

RIGHT HONOURABLE 

MEJVRY tAJBIBIJVGTOJV, 

CHANCELLOR OF HIS MAJESTY’S EXCHEQUER, 

ON THE FATAL EFFECTS 

OF THE 

PEACE WITH BUONAPARTE, 


PARTICULARLY WITH RESPECT TO 

THE COLONIES, THE COMMERCE, THE MANUFAC¬ 
TURES, AND THE CONSTITUTION, 

OF THE 

UNITED KINGDOM. 



By WILLIAM COBBETT 






LETTERS 


TO THE 

RIGHT HONOURABLE 

HENRY ADDINGTON, 

Xc. SCc. c. 


LETTER I. 

Pall-Mali , 22)d Dec. 1801. 

SIR, 

Our Sovereign has placed you at the head of the 
few, whose duty it is to administer the government ; 
and, as I am one of the many, whose* prosperity, 
whose happiness, and whose honour, must be ma¬ 
terially affected by the manner, in which you per¬ 
form that duty, I have an unquestionable right to 
examine into your conduct, and to communicate, 
to my fellow subjects, the result of my examination. 

Were 



150 


LETTERS TO THE 


Were I inclined* minutely to investigate all 
the measures of your administration, I should not 
want for variety of matter; but, the Preliminary 
Treaty of Peace, which you have entered into with 
France, “ like Aaron’s serpent, swallows all the 
rest” of the evils, which you have brought, and are 
bringing down, on the humbled head of your coun¬ 
try. That Treaty appears, to me, to have laid the 
foundation of the ruin of the Colonies , the Commerce , 
the Manufactures , and the Constitution , of the 
kingdom. This being sincerely my opinion, it is 
my duty to endeavour to convince others of its 
justness, and, thereby, to produce such a change of 
measures, as may yet save us from the destruction, 
with which we are threatened. 

Since the hypocritical sect of negro-loving 
philanthropists arose, it has been the fashion to 
speak contemptuously of our West-India colonial 
possessions; but, it is something remarkable, that 
the very men, who, one hour, have had their mouths 
full of the cant of humanity, have, the next, been 
ready enough to make a. pompous display of the 
immense wealth and strength, arising from the pos¬ 
session of those favoured countries, which, for fac¬ 
tious or selfish purposes, they denominated “ scenes 

of 


FvT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 151 

of human woe.” You, however. Sir, who must, 
by this time, have discovered, that the nation will 
still stand in need of revenue, surely cannot even 
affect to despise the possession of those countries, 
from the productive fields of which so considerable 
a portion of our revenue has heretofore arisen. In 
speaking to you, therefore, I may venture to lament 
the loss of one half of our colonies and the perilous 
situation of the other half, without dreading the 
ideot-like reply, which is generally made by the 
ceconomists and philanthropists of the day. 

The danger to our remaining West-India Co¬ 
lonies will arise from several causes, two only of 
which I, at present, think it necessary to dwell on; 
to wit: the additional dominion, which France 
acquires on the coast of South America, and the 
powerful military force, which she will have a suf¬ 
ficient excuse for maintaining in her island of His¬ 
paniola, now commonly called Saint Domingo. 
Whoever casts his eye over the map of the West- 
Indies, must, at once, perceive, that these are pre¬ 
cisely the two positions, which every military man 
would have chosen, in making his dispositions for 
the conquest of those territories, which England yet 
retains in that part of the world. 


For 


152 


LETTERS TO THE 


For more than a hundred years past, it has 
been the invariable policy of England, to prevent 
France from acquiring any considerable footing on 
those shores of South America, which are in the 
vicinity of the West-India Islands, lest, in conse¬ 
quence of such footing, she should become mistress 
of all the Leeward Islands. For this reason, princi¬ 
pally, it was, that French Guiana was considerably 
narrowed by the Treaty of Utrecht, and that special 
provision was made for keeping her not only from 
commanding the Amazons, but from approaching 
nearer than one hundred and fifty miles distance from 
that important river. Thus circumscribed within 
limits, which gave but little scope to enterprize, and 
holding even what w r as left her, only, as it were, 
.during good behaviour (which is seldom regarded as 
a very secure tenure), she seemed to attach hardly any 
value to the settlements, which she had there formed, 
and which she generally left exposed to the first 
invader. 

But, the Treaty, the baleful Treaty, which 
you have made with France, has totally changed 
her situation in that quarter. To the north west 
of her former colony, you have given her the Dutch 
Colony of Surinam, and that of Berbice, Demerara, 

and 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 153 
and Essequibo, situated on the fruitful banks of 
four rivers of the same names. These colonies con¬ 
tain about 75,000 square miles, and have 300 miles 
.of sea coast. 

1 hat this country. Sir, is, in fact , given up to 
France , the world needs no other proof than the state¬ 
ments of yourself, your colleagues, and the public 
prints, which are known, and well known, to be 
under the influence, and even under the guidance 
of the Ministry. Lord Hawkesbury, upon being 
asked by Mr. Whitbread, “ whether Spain and 
“ Holland had been made parties to the prelim i- 
“ nary treaty, and whether they had actually made 
<c the cessions of Trinidada and Ceylon,” replied, 
that, “ the Preliminary Treaty was made only with 
* c France , and that no direct communication was 
“ had, upon the subject , either with Spain or Hoi- 
cc land*.” Some doubts having been expressed, 
in the public prints, as tb the willingness of Spain 
and Holland to agree to these cessions, it was, by 
way of reply, stated in the True Briton (the pro- 
prietor of which daily receives his directions for the 

Treasury), 


* Vide appendix H. last extract but one. 


X 



154 LETTERS TO THE 

Treasury) *, that those nations had not the power 
to prevent the fulfilment of the treaty. The article^ 
I allude to, concluded with the following words: 
<c They [Spain and Holland] may GRUMBLE, hut 
“ they MUST SUBMIT." 

Now, Sir, if you look upon as valid a cession, 
made to us, by France, of one part of the territo¬ 
ries of Holland, you certainly will not deny, that 
that same France has a like' power over every other 
part of the territories of Holland: and, indeed, would 
it not be an absurdity bordering on ideotism, to 
suppose, that France will not virtually possess every 
Dutch colony, while her armies are quartered, and 
while her proconsuls dictate laws, in the mother 
country ? 

From the boundary line of Surinam, French 
Guiana sweeps round first towards the South East, 
and then towards the South, comprehending a sea- 
coast of 330 miles. Here the French territory, in- 
South America, would have ended; but, the treaties 

of 


* I think it not wrong, that the proprietor of a news-paper 
has instructions from the offices of governmentbut, what a 
man, so instructed, advances, it is perfectly fair to cite as the 
language of the ministry. 



HT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 155 

of Badajos and of Madrid extend it 150 miles fur¬ 
ther to the Southward, even to the bank of the 
Amazons, of the navigation of which river they 
give her the absolute command. 

Before I proceed. Sir, to observe on the dreadful 
influence, which this new empire must infallibly 
have on our colonial system, I cannot help making 
jsome remarks on the conduct of you and your col¬ 
leagues, relative to the treaty, by which the last- 
mentioned part of that empire has been obtained 
by France. 

In discussing the terms of a treaty, which pro¬ 
fessed to secure the integrality of the territories of 
our allies , the effect of every other treaty, containing 
stipulations relative to those territories, were neces¬ 
sarily taken into consideration. For this reason it 
was, that Mr. Grey, previous to the discussion of 
the Preliminary Treaty, repeatedly enquired of His 
Majesty's Ministers, whether the treaty, between 
France and Portugal , signed at Madrid, on the 
29 th of September , 1801, was, orzvas not, as far as 
related to cessions of territory , annulled by the Pre - 
liminary Treaty, between 'England and France , To 
this question, the Ministry, at first, declined to 
X 2 givQ 


156 LETTERS TO THE 

give an answer * *$ but, on a future day (still pre¬ 
vious to the discussion of the Preliminary Treaty), 
Lord Hawkesbury replied, to a repetition of the 
same question, that, “ by the integrity of the ter- 
“ ritories of Portugal, was meant such territories 
€£ and possessions as Pier Faithful Majesty pos- 
iC sessed subsequent to the treaty of Badajos j\ In 
<c her subsequent treaty with France, some change 
<c was agreed on in the boundaries between French 
* c and Portuguese Guiana; but , all cessions , subse - 
cc quent to the treaty of Badajos, were annulled by the 
<s Preliminaries with England And this an¬ 
swer was, by every one, looked upon as proceeding 
from an unquestionable source, because his Lord- 
ship prefaced it by observing, that the reason why 
it was not given before, was, that cf the officers of 
C( Government were not, till that day , in possession 
£C of official information.” Before, however, the 
Parliamentary discussion took place, the French 
official journal (the vehicle, alas! through which 

Britons 

' -4 

* Vide Appendix H, first and second extracts. 

f Vide Appendix C. 

t Vide Appendix H, third and fourth extract* 



RT. IION. HENRY ADDINGTON* 157 
Britons are, in future, to learn their destinies !) in^ 
formed us, that the treaty of the 29th of September 
had been ratified by Buonaparte, <e sans aiicun 
changement” a circumstance, which led Lord 
Temple to enquire, cf whether this ratification ex¬ 
tended to any cessions , made since the treaty of Ba - 
dajos ” to which Lord Hawkesbury replied, that 
he could assure the noble Lord , that the ratifi- 
“ cation did not extend to any points o? 

“ CESSION 

With this assurance , Sir, it was, that the Par¬ 
liament and the nation entered on the discussion of 
the Preliminary Treaty; and need I add, that this 
explicit and solemn assurance has, from the subse¬ 
quent proceedings of the French Government, re¬ 
ceived a contradiction no less explicit and solemn ? 
Need I tell you. Sir, that the ratification of this 
treaty, in all its parts, has been publickly announced 
to the Legislative Body of France ; that the cession 
which you and your colleagues declared to be 
annulled , has there been represented as still in force, 
and as insuring to our enemy a vast accession of 
riches and of power ; need I tell you. Sir, that the 

very 


*. Vide Appendix H, fifth and sixth extracts. 



158 LETTERS TO THE 

very assurances, given by you to the Parliament of 
Britain, have been treated, by the Ministers of 
France, with the same sort of contempt which they 
bestow on the proceedings of the burlesque Legis¬ 
latures of the Helvetian, Cisalpine, and Ligurian 
Republicks * ? No : I need not. The humili¬ 
ating, the disgraceful truth, has been proclaimed 
to the universe ; and, if it has not stung you to the 
soul, I would not exchange feelings with you for 
a million times all the millions, of which you are 
the Treasurer. 

The importance of the question, whether the 
treaty of the 29th of September, was, or was not, an¬ 
nulled (as far as related to cessions of territory) by 
the Preliminaries with England, must be evident 
to every one. To secure the integrality of Por¬ 
tugal 


* Vide Appendix I, which contains the Speech of the 
Counsellor of State Defermont, in the treaty of the 29th Sep¬ 
tember, 1801 , the whole of which speech should be carefully 
read, because it contains a development of the intentions of 
France with respect to Portugal. I wish the reader, too, to com¬ 
pare the insolent insinuations, and, indeed, the gross* and un¬ 
founded calumny, contained in that speech, with the cautious 
and submissive tone recommended and observed within the walls 
of St. Stephen’s, 



RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 159 

tugal was an object of great and general solicitude; 
and, if the Preliminary Treaty did really affect that 
object, by annulling the cessions in South America, 
it acquired a merit, which it otherwise did not 
possess, and thereby weakened the opposition 
against it. What, then, shall be, said of the Mi¬ 
nistry, who could dare officially to state a circum¬ 
stance, which must so materially affect an approach¬ 
ing discussion, if that circumstance had not the 
slightest foundation in truth ? Either you had 
<c official information ” on the subject, or you had 
not: if you had, Buonaparte has given you a 
•tolerable specimen of that good faith, on which you 
have made our future existence to depend; if you 
had not, your conduct rnerits an assemblage of epi¬ 
thets, which I shall leave the insulted nation to 
apply. 

We have lately, indeed, heard from your own 
. mouth*, that, notwithstanding the statements in 
the French Legislative Body, the treaty of Madrid, 
as far as relates to cession of territory, is not to go 
into effect. From this, it would appear, that Buo¬ 
napartes 


* Vide Appendix, L. 



160 


LETTERS TO TH*E 


nap arte has yielded a little to your supplications. 
Some despicable creature, famous for low cunning 
and for nothing else (I mean some Foreigner , of 
course) has, perhaps, whispered in his ear, that to 
insist on the fulfilment of the treaty of Madrid, 
after what has passed in the British senate, would 
rather injure than assist his future projects. He 
has, perhaps, been told, that such unqualified con¬ 
tempt of us so soon might yet produce some sense 
of feeling in the nation, and might augment the 
number of those, who still wish to prevent their 
country from becoming a province' of France. But, 
Sir, be assured, that his relinquishment is but a 
matter of expediency; a mere temporary trick. 
Some of his legions will garrison Fort Macapa, in 
less than three months after you have made the 
actual surrender of our numerous conquests. 

The possession of the territory , however, 
back as far as the Carapanatuba is by no means 
necessary to produce the effects which I so much 
dread. The extension of territory, secured to 
France by the treaty of Badajos, an extension, 
which you ought never to have suffered, will give 
her all the advantages of which she stands in need. 
It gives her the command of the Arowary. The 
2 1 mouth 


RT. HOS. HENRY ADDINGTON. 161 
mouth of this river affords excellent anchorage, 
and is but a few miles distant from that of the 
Amazons. In fact, the Arowarv falls into the 
mouth of the Amazons ; and, it will require, con¬ 
sidering the future situation of Portugal, but a 
very trifling expedition to give France the posses¬ 
sion of the little Island of Caviana, which, only 
tolerably fortified, will be to the Amazons precisely 
what a cannon is to an embrasure. This was the 
light, in which these territories were viewed by 
the statesmen, who presided in the councils of 
England, in the reign of Queen Anne. They 
made the French retreat upwards of a hundred 
miles from the A rowary, never regarding the Bra¬ 
zils as secure, while that river remained at her 
command, and never dreaming of putting up the 
sword, hill that security was provided for.—But, 
alas ! the councils of England are changed ! 

From this long digression, Sir, I return to 
contemplate the dangers, to which, from these 
newly-acquired possessions of Fiance, our colonial 
territories will, in future, be exposed. 

These possessions now extend from the Ama¬ 
zons, or, at least, from the Arowary, to the Esse, 
quibo, comprehending a sea-coast of 780 miles, 
Y terminated 


162 LETTERS TO THE 

terminated at each extremity by a navigable river* 

of which she will have the sole dominion. 

On one flank, the restless and mighty Repub- 
lick menaces the territories of Spain, on the other, 
the territories of Portugal *, while her front, well 
provided with harbours, ports, and fortresses, pre¬ 
sents to our Leeward Islands an object of never- 
ceasing alarm. Grenada, Barbadoes, and St. Vin¬ 
cent, can never enjoy an hour's security, after 
France has once firmly established herself in her 
new American dominion; and, as to our island of 
Trinidada, which we have so dearly and so honestly 
obtained, a very small detachment, from the rpouth 
of the Essequibo, will, in tfie space of a few hours, 
effectually relieve us from the load of expense and 
of shame, with which the possession of that terri¬ 
tory will ever be attended. 

Tire evil, which I fear, in this quarter, will 
not, indeed, be immediate . Those, therefore, who, 
for the sake of enjoying one or two years of ease 
and quiet, are willing to submit to a life of misery 
and disgrace, with the privilege of entailing these 
s * blessings of peace” on their descendants, may 

treat 


Vide Appendix, G, 



RT. HON, H£ ft R Y ADDINGTON. 1 63 
treat my apprehensions with indifference. But, 
Sir, those who have a due regard for their country; 
those who wish to see her still great and powerful; 
those who have been proud of the name of Bri¬ 
tons, and who wish to hand down to their children, 
untarnished, that name, which untarnished they 
have received from their fathers; such men would 
feel no consolation in her respite , were it to post¬ 
pone the day of her humiliation to the distance of 
ten thousand years. No such respite, as far as re¬ 
lates to the part of the globe I am now speaking 
of, will, however, be obtained. Her expulsion 
from the Leeward Islands was decreed on the fatal 
first of October. On that day her timid and de¬ 
generate sons, abandoning all the maxims and all 
the principles, which had theretofore governed her 
councils, yielded up the keys of her safety, and 
exposed her weakest part to the ravages of her 
most powerful and most implacable foe. 

On the other side of the Western Archipelago, 
the danger is still greater, and much nearer at hand. 
France, having got possession of the whole 
Island of St. Domingo, will naturally be de¬ 
sirous of obtaining that of the Bahama Islands, 
which, held by us, are a bridle in the mouth of a 
Y 2 power. 


10* 


LETTERS TO THE 


power, which is growing more and more formi¬ 
dable every day. What France here desires, the 
controul, which she has over the Floridas and Cuba, 
will enable her, at any time, to accomplish. She 
will stand in need of the Bahamas, and having the 
power to seize on them, she will find no induce¬ 
ment for forbearance, particularly in favour of a 
power, whose ruin will ever be the object nearest 
her heart. 

There remains, then, nothing but Jamaica for 
her to invade and destroy ; and I sincerely wish, 
that this opulent, this happy, this loyal Island, may 
be the last on the list of her conquests, as it is on 
that of my enumeration. But, this wish is vain. 
Long has the envious and malignant fiend scowled 
on this our favourite colony, this precious jewel in 
the British diadem. She well knows, that it is one 
of the principal sources of our wealth and our 
power, and she will risk her very existence but she 
will wrest it from our hands. 

Recollect, Sir, that it is jiozo in the power of 
France, to convey a powerful army to Saint Do¬ 
mingo ; nay, you already too well know, that she 
is, as the first consequence of the peace, preparing 
such an armament. Recollect, that the whole 

force. 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 165 
force, which circumstances will allow you to keep 
up in Jamaica, will never amount to much more 
than one of those legions, of which she will have 
to dispose, the moment the negro-army is subdued. 
Recollect, that the whole of Saint Domingo is now 
hers, and that Trinidada, when you received it 
from her hands, was not more completely under 
her command, than Cuba now is. With these 
facts well fixed in your mind, cast your eye over 
the map of the West-Indies. You will find Ja¬ 
maica three parts surrounded by Saint Domingo and 
Cuba, from several points of either of which, six 
hours fair wind will convey an army to any part of 
its defenceless coast, from Point Morant to Mon¬ 
tego-Bay. 

But, Sir, I do you wrong to suppose you in¬ 
sensible to the danger. Your warlike preparations 
like the clapping of a run-away cock, are a suffi¬ 
cient indication of your fear. Those preparations; 
which have been retarded by that daring and fatal 
spirit that your pusillanimous peace has revived, 
will, instead of inspiring confidence, spread dis¬ 
trust and dismay through every part of our Islands; 
and, in that of Jamaica, it will be justly regarded 
as the signal of approaching destruction. The 

fleet, 


166 


letters to the 




fleet, which, but yesterday, blockaded that of 
France in the port of Brest, must now sneak after 
it at a distance, unseen and unheard, like the im¬ 
potent wittol, whose jealousy urges him to watch 
the invader of his honour, but whose cowardice 
with-holds him from preventing the consummation 
of what he dreads. 

Should our fleet, though disheartened by the 
nature of its employment, prove an efficient protec¬ 
tion to Jamaica; when can we hope to withdraw it ? 
With its continuance on the station will cease the 
protection which it yields; and how are we to re¬ 
concile that continuance with a state of Peace? 
How are we to reconcile it with that “ security for 
ct the future ,” which your predecessor constantly 
stated to be the chief object of the war, and, which 
you and your partizans assert to be completely ob¬ 
tained? Am I told, that the commencement of this. 
“ security for the future ” must take its date from 
the signature of the Definitive Treaty ? I answer, 
that I have too high an opinion of your gratitude 
and fidelity to your Sovereign to believe, that you 
will call home the West-India fleet, upon the sign¬ 
ing of that Treaty. Thus, then, Sir, we have 
already entered on that tantalizing state cc of mis- 

“ trust? 


7 


f 


RT. HON, HENRY ADDINGTON. 167 
tc trust, uneasiness, expense, and danger, on the one 
<c part y and of threats, intrigues, and hostile pre- 
“ parations on the other,” which I took the liberty 
to describe to your noble Colleague, and which, I 
greatly fear, after having broken the spirit, and 
exhausted the patience of the nation, will lead 
it to seek for repose under the death-like tyranny 
of France. 

To no part of the world can a Briton now 
turn his eyes, without sorrow and shame; nowhere 
can he look, without feeling his heart sink within 
him at contemplating the lamentable change, which 
n few, a very few, months have, with the aid of 
you and your colleagues, produced in the aspect 
and situation of his so-lately great and glorioles 
country . But, in no part of the ocean, of which 
Britain was truely called the mistress, has that 
change been so striking? so injurious, and so dis¬ 
graceful, as in the West-India seas. There we 
were the uninterrupted Lords of the waters and pf 
the soil; not a hostile bark dared to show its canvass 
to the wind ; not a gun was fired without our per¬ 
mission : our flag spoke peace and protection to 
the oppressed, and terror to the oppressor. There 
foreigners, of whatever nation, gladly owned aller 

giance 


168 LETTERS TO THE 

giance to our King* under whose just and gentle 
sway they found that prosperity and happiness they 
had never before enjoyed. Wherever we went, 
in whatever direction, from Mexico to Barbadoes, 
from Guiana to Bermuda, obedience, respect, and 
honour, followed our steps. This state of things, this 
source of wealth and of power, might, and should 
have been, preserved, till we could have found a 
compensation for its loss, in the re-establishment 
of our due portion of weight and authority on the 
Continent of Europe; but, you, Sir, thought other¬ 
wise, and, without any such compensation, you 
have yielded advantages and sacrificed character, 
which your country will never regain. Those, who 
had sought our protection, and had staked their for¬ 
tunes and their lives on our promises, you have' 
yielded up to the mercy of their remorseless perse¬ 
cutors; the trade and commerce, which we had 
gained, you have turned into the channel of our 
enemy; all the improvements, all the increase of 
population and of produce, which had arisen under 
our fostering care, you have gratuitously surren¬ 
dered to that insolent enemy ; that security , which 
had doubled the value of the conquered colonies, is 
now wanting to our own, even to our oldest and 

most 


RT. HON, HENRY ADDINGTON. 169 
most precious possessions. These will hencefor¬ 
ward be every hour in jeopardy, and will, 'till they 
shall no longer own the sway of Great-Britain, con¬ 
tinue to experience that depreciation in value, and 
that decline in population, which even the suspi¬ 
cion of insecurity never fails to produce, 

I am. 

Sir, 

Your most humble, 

and most obedient servant, 

Wm, cobbett 



no 


LETTERS TO THE 


LETTER IT 

Pall-Mall , 24 th Dec . 1801, 

Sir, 

In my last letter, I endeavoured to show, that 
the West India colonies, remaining in our posses¬ 
sion, so far from having, by your peace, obtained 
£C security for the future,” are, by that peace, placed 
in a state of continual alarm and danger, which must 
lead immediately to their decay, and eventually to 
their ruin; a process, which, as I shall now attempt 
to prove, our commerce will also undergo. 

That eery great commerce is a very great evil , 
I, though perhaps somewhat singular in my opi¬ 
nion, am ready to avow. Mr. Pitt, in his speech 
of the 7th of June 1799, called the present war, 
“ a war of finance” and Sir Wm. Eden (now 
Lord Auckland), in his letters to Lord Car¬ 
lisle, published in' 1779, observes, that, “ War 
“ is now become a science of money. That side 
must first qiiit thefield whose Exchequer firstfails.” 

Since 


u 



RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 171 

Since the publication of these sententious sentences, 
his Lordship has had the mortification to see his 
country twice quit the field in disgrace before a 
bankrupt enemy. No, Sir, it is on the zvarlike spirit 
of a nation that her honour, security, and happi¬ 
ness, must chiefly depend; and this spirit is ge¬ 
nerally found to exist in an inverse proportion to 
the magnitude of her purse. When I cast my eye 
.over the calculations of Messrs. Chalmers, Rose, 
and Pitt; when I perceive them deducing a proof 
of the increase of our greatness from the increase of 
our commerce and our wealth; when I see them 
recurring to the reign of Queen Anne, and stating, 
that then our shipping amounted to only two hun¬ 
dred thousand tons, and that now it amounts to two 
millions of tons—that our annual revenue then was 
not three millions of pounds, and that now it is thirty- 
six millions of pounds; tired with the triumphant 
comparisons of these arithmetical logicians, I turn 
to view the conduct and character of my country at 
the two epochs. At the former, I find her waging 
a long and arduous war for the preservation of the 
liberties of Europe. I find her explicitly declaring 
and honestly pursuing her object; and, having at¬ 
tained that object, having weakened the mighty 
Z 2 and 


172 LETTERS TO THE 

and strengthened the weak, humbled the ambi¬ 
tious and exalted • the humble,. I see her retiring 
from the field, loaded with laurels alone; seeking 
for compensation neither in spices nor in sugars, 
but contenting herself with a barren rock, at once the 
emblem of her disinterestedness and the monument 
of her glory. If I become more minute in my re¬ 
searches, I trace her through a series of those solid 
and noble national acts, which are the indubitable 
proofs of opulence at home and consequence abroad: 
her piety she shows, not in attempts to rob, but in 
bestowing a Bounty on, the pastors of the church; 
she expresses her gratitude to her hero, not in air- 
built Naval Pillar's, but in a real and princely 
mansion; with one hand she raises the dome of St. 
Paul, with the other she demolishes the works of 
Dunkirk.—Such was England, Sir, in the infancy 
of her commerce, what she is now let the treaties of 
Shelburne and Addington tell. 

But, Sir, at the present day, the question, with 
us, is not, whether very great commerce be a good , 
or an evil: unhappily, we have no choice. Our 
wants are created; and they must be satisfied, or 
we cease to exist as an independent nation. The 
necessities of the state, during any peace that we 


can 


RT. KON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 173 
can preserve with the Republick of France, will re¬ 
quire the whole of our present revenue. Nine- 
tenths of that revenue arise, directly or indirectly, 
from our commerce. If, therefore, that commerce 
should now experience a considerable diminution, 
the measure, from which it will arise, must neces¬ 
sarily be an object of just condemnation, and must 
as necessarily be attributed to the imbecility, or to 
some quality more hateful, in the men, by whom 
it was adopted. That such diminution will take 
place, that it will be the precursor of the total ruin 
of our commerce, I am thoroughly persuaded ; and, 
I now proceed to state the facts and reasons, on 
which this persuasion is founded. 

Our commerce, exclusive of that with the 
East-Indies, which will, probably, continue undi- 
minished, may be considered under three principal 
heads: I. With the Continent of Europe; II. With 
the West-Indies; III. With the United States of 
America. 

I. With the Continent of Europe Buonaparte 
will, in consequence of the absolute power he pos¬ 
sesses over all those states, which have hitherto af¬ 
forded us the greatest commercial advantages, 
abridge our commerce, by every means that the 

ingenuity 


174 LETTERS TO THE 

ingenuity of a rival can invent, and that the malice 
oi an enemy can employ. In the Mediterranean 
we never had much commerce; what we had, 
however, will be diminished. The port of Leg¬ 
horn, which now belongs to Buonaparte’s king of 
Etruria, will be open to us only so far as is conve¬ 
nient to France, who may, sometimes, think it not 
inconvenient to suffer a large quantity of British 
property to be deposited there, if our merchants 
should be found adventurous enough to make such 
a deposit. Our trade with the Ligurian Republick, 
with Naples, with the Island of Sardinia, and even 
with Constantinople, will be abridged, or not, as 
the interests of France may require. 

In Spain and Portugal, with whom our com¬ 
mercial relations were of considerable importance, 
we shall have to support a competition with our 
enemy, and shall be hampered with partial restric¬ 
tions. The latter of these kingdoms has already, 
through our pusillanimity, been compelled to throw 
open to all the world (that is to say, to France) 
those channels of commerce, which, for a century 
past, have been open to England alone. 

With the borders of the Baltic, with Russia, 
Denmark, and Sweden, our commerce is very unim¬ 
portant, 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 175 
portant, and may not experience a very great diminu¬ 
tion ; but, with all the ports, through which we trad¬ 
ed with Flanders, Holland, and Germany, the dimi¬ 
nution will, after a short space of time, be immense. 
By your recognition. Sir, of the right of France to 
hold the keys of these countries, to retain the com¬ 
mand of the Rhine , the Meuse , and the Scheldt you 
have banished for ever from the heart of Europe, 
the commerce and the influence of England. In 
my Letters to Lord Hawkesbury, X stated, ge¬ 
nerally, my opinion on this subject, which opinion 
I find fully corroborated by a writer of great emh 
nence, whose work I had not then seen, but which 
made its appearance, a few weeks previous to 
the signing of the Preliminaries of Peace. I allude. 
Sir, to the cc Financial and Political Facts of the 
Eighteenth Century ,” by John M c Arthur, Esq. who 
is a professed eulogist of Mr. Pitt and yourself. His 
work, agreeably to its title, takes a view of the 
revenue, the expenditure, the debts, the manufac ¬ 
tures, and the commerce of Great-Britain, for a 
century past. In treating of the commerce, he 
takes occasion to insist upon the necessity of car¬ 
rying on the war, till France can be induced to 

recede 


176 LETTERS TO THE 

recede from her enormous encroachments. He in¬ 
sists—but, I shall give you his opinion in his own 
words :— <c Should the French succeed in their at- 
“ tempts to re 'ain their conquests, and to secure to 
‘ 6 themselves the free navigation of the Rhine, the 
“ Meuse, and the Scheld,”—[which, Sir, thanks 
to your treaty, they have now done ]—•“ they may, 
<c on the return of Peace, put in execution the 
vast projects, formed by the National Convention 
“ in 1792, and which Buonaparte has obviously 
in contemplation. A consideration of the outline 
“ of these projects may create some apprehensions 
ct in the minds of the generality of my readers ; 
“ yet, it is to be hoped, for the commercial pros - 
“ perity of this country , that the Chief Consul's 
u views, in his present arrangement of indemnities 
sc on the banks of the Rhine, &c. and thereby at- 
“ tempting to obtain the free navigation of those 
“ rivers, may be completely frustrated , before this 
“ country makes Peace” 

In order to show the importance of our strug¬ 
gles to prevent the accomplishment of these ambi¬ 
tious projects, on the part of France, the author 
next points out the probable consequences thereof/ 
to other nations, and to Great-Britain in particular. 

“ The 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 177 
<c The French Republick,” says he, “ by join- 
u mg, as intended, many of her navigable rivers 
“ and canals, to the Rhine, the Meuse, and Scheld, 
“ will be enabled to transport, at a cheaper rate 
“ than heretofore, the various bulky commodities 
“ of foreign growth and manufacture, and convey 
<c them to the centre of Germany; also-from the 
“ Mediterranean Sea to the Bay of Biscay, to the 
<c British Channel, and to the North Sea. The 
iC consequence obviously resulting from such boun~ 
“ daries would be to exclude the trade and manu - 
“ factures of Great-Britain from the northern parts 
“ of Europe. By joining some of the rivers and 
“ canals to the Scheld, the French would, in time 
« of war, be able to transport, without interruption, 
<< naval stores, ammunition, and provisions of all 
« sorts, from one place to another, in the ci-devant 
“ Belgic provinces, and thence into Holland. 

The river ]Meuse would also open an ex- 
“ tended communication with part of Gesmany and 
Flolland, and facilitate the. transport of their 
“ various articles of commerce. The river Rhine 
“ would most effectually complete the interior 
cc communication with the rest of Germany and 
u Holland, 

A a “ France, 


178 LETTERS TO THE 

cc France* with three hundred navigable rivers* 
cc and a number of extensive canals, some of them 
44 already opening communications between the 
44 Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, would, 
46 ‘in accomplishing her ambitious plans, of securing 
44 the navigation of the three great risers just men- 
44 tioned, most essentially militate against the com - 
44 mercial interests of this country , and contribute 
44 to her own aggrandizement, population, wealth, 
44 and prosperity. 

44 The secret articles, and additional conven- 
44 tion of the treaty of Campo-Formio, develop, 
44 in a striking manner, the ambitious views of the 
44 French Republick, with respect to the free na- 
44 vigation of these rivers. His Imperial Majesty 
44 consents to employ his good offices in the nego- 
« 4 tiation of the Peace of the Empire, to obtain, 
44 i. That the navigation of the Rhine, from Hu- 
44 ningen to the territory of Holland, shall be free 
‘ 4 both to the French Republick and the States of 
44 the Empire, on the right bank. 2. That the pos- 
44 sessors of territory near the mouth of the Mo- 
« 4 selle, shall, on no pretence, attempt to interrupt 
4C the free navigation and passage of ships and other 
44 vessels from the Moselle into the Rhine. 3. The 

44 French 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 179 
** French Republick shall have the free navigation 
“ of the Meuse; and the tolls and other imposts* 
“ from Venloo to Holland, shall be abolished. 

“ The treaty of Peace, concluded at Luneville 
“ on the 9th February, 1801, having regard to 
<c wliat had been agreed upon by th£ deputation of 
cc the Empire, at the preceding Congress at Ras- 
“ tadt, resolved, in conformity with the precedent 
“ of what had taken place in similar circumstances, 
“ to stipulate in the name of the Germanic body. 
“ Some of the principal objects stipulated are the 
<c cession of the ci-devant Belgic provinces to the 
“ French Republick in the most formal manner. 
“ The Comte of Falkenstein, with its dependencies, 
(c the Fricthall, and all belonging to the House of 
“ Austria on the left bank of the Rhine, between 
« Zarzach and Basle, are to be given up to the 
“ French Republick. The Duke of Modena, as 
« an indemnity for the countries which this Prince 
“ had in Italy, is to have the Brisgau . In confor- 
“ mity with the second article of the treaty of 
« Campo-Formio, the navigation of the Adige, 
“ which serves as the limits between His Majesty 
“ the Emperor and King, and the navigation of* 
the rivers in the Cisalpine Republick, are to be 
A a 2 “ free i 


180 LETTERS TO THE 

fe free ; nor is any toll to be imposed, nor any ship 
of war kept there. 

“ France, by securing the unlimited freedom 
“ of navigating the great rivers already noticed, it 
cp is natural to expect that she will make every 
“ effort, on the return of Peace, to promote an ex- 
cc tensive inland commerce, by means of making 
fc canals and rivers navigable. It will give many 
<c years employment to at least 50,000 disbanded 
cc soldiers, and render her ultimately independent, 
“ in peace or war, of many bulky commodities, 
5C drawn from the Northern States of Europe ; more 
4C especially such articles as may be required for the 
“ construction, repairs, and equipment of ships in 
c< the navy and merchant service. In process of 
cf time, it may be feared that France may even- 
“ tually, by dint of numbers, even supersede Great- 
“ Britain in those two grand points , Navy and Com - 
merce; the former of which may justly be consi- 
dered the palladium of the country. There are 
“ men who treat this matter lightly , and lull their 
“ apprehensions to rest, by an idea that these 
things cannot happen in our times; but may the 
“ sun of Great-Britain never set so long as there 
shall remain a sun in heaven !” 

Would 


181 


RT. HON. H.ENRY ADDINGT.ON. 

Would to God, Sir, that you had participated 
in the sentiments of this writer! But you are, I 
am afraid, one of those men, <c who treat this 
“matter lightly;” who lull their apprehensions to 
rest by a hope, that these things <e cannot happen 
“ in our timesand who, entrenching themselves 
behind these selfish reflections, sacrifice the interest, 
the honour, and the safety of their country to the 
obtaining of popularity, and the preserving of their 
places.-1 resume my quotation : 

“ Should France be suffered to retain the 
<c three great rivers before mentioned,”—[which 
she has now retained ]—“ as the boundaries of the 
Republick, it will gave her incalculable advan- 
“ tages ; and in .proposition as such an event would 
“ diminish our commerce and manufactures , it xoould 
“ give vigour and energy to those of the French. 
“ They would open the most extensive interior 
“ navigation with Germany and Holland; they 
< c would be able to receive, in a direct manner, 
“ the productions and manufactures of Germany, 
“ with which they have hitherto been supplied 
“ through Holland, Bremen, and Hamburgh. It 
would open a more extended market for their 
£ - wines, the growth of Burgundy and Champaign, 

“ which 


182 


BETTERS TO THE 

“ which would be conveyed at a much cheaper 
“ rate by interior water-carriage, instead of being 
<c transported, as heretofore, by land-carriage to 
<c Rouen and Havre-de-Grace, and thence carried 
< c by sea to the Netherlands and Holland ; and, 
“ what is of far greater consequence, in time of 
“ war they would be able to send naval stores, 
“ ammunition, and provisions, to the cities and 
ec fortified places situated on these rivers, and carry 
cc on an extensive commerce from the sea-ports in 
4C the south and north, without the protection of 
armed vessels. 

cc Should Buonaparte, be successful in ac- 
“ complishing the avowed designs of all the^ rulers 
fC of France since the revolution,” [which design 
he has note accomplished] Cf it would not only mili- 
“ tate against the trade of this country to Germany , 
cc but also materially affect the interests of the 
€ * Northern Powers, from whom France formerly 
“ purchased timber for her navy ; also iron, flax, 
“ hemp, &c. since it is obvious, that, were France 
“ to have the exclusive and free navigation of the 
“ Rhine, the -Meuse, and Scheld, and joining to 
“ them by art many rivers and canals, she could, 
u in any future war, receive at the several ports in 

<c the 


R T. -H olT HENRY ADDINGTON. 183 
cc the kingdom, timber of all kinds, from the im- 
<c mense forests in Alsace, Lorraine, and Burgundy; 
“ also flax and hemp, the growth of the different 
<c countries situated on the borders of the Rhine, 
and of the several rivers which are united to it. 
<c The mines of iron, copper, and lead, of Lux- 
<c emburgh and Limburgh, and the iron mines and 
“ coal-pits in the provinces of Namur, Liege, and 
“ other places; the leather manufactories in the 
principalities of Stavelo and Malmedy; and the 
manufactories of linen and woollen cloths, dis- 
“ persed in the countries annexed to France, in 
the. vicinity of these rivers, would all tend to 
increase the wealth and power of that nation, 
to the prejudice of the other states of Europe. 
“ In short, France would acquire snch a gigantic 
<c preponderance in the scale of nations, that she 
“ might, on a future day, become more formidable 
“ to the liberties of all Europe than she was when 
“ in the zenith of her glory and prosperity, in the 
reign of Louis the Fourteenth, or than tyran- 
“ nical Rome in her best times. Indeed the 
“ strength of France would become too great for 
“ any' power to resist. 


Can 


184* LETTERS TO THE 

“ Can Great-Britain, then, seeing that her 
“ power depends upon the prosperity of her com- 
“ merce, view with indifference, these momen- 
<c tous and colossal attempts of France towards 
“ monopoly, and universal tyranny ? Shall she 
“ succeed in her designs of extending her terri- 
“ tories and line of coast; at the same time an- 
“ nexing, either by direct or indirect means (and 
“ which, if permitted,- she will do), all the ports 
“ on the Continent, from Dunkirk to Hamburgh, 
“ together with the enjoynient of the exclusive* 
ct navigation of the three great rivers before men- 
“ tioned ? If it be not insisted upon that France 
“ relinquish her former pretensions, and consent 
“ to some alienation of these countries, which, 
“ according to the laws of her own making, were, 
“ and are intended to constitute the territory of 
“ the Republick, so as to cut up by the roots, the 
“ vast objects and designs constantly avowed by 
“ her successive revolutionary rulers, there can be 
iC little security in peace either for the commerce of 
<c Great-Britain , or for the tranquillity of the Con- 
“ tinental Powers, whose proximity to the exten- 
cc sive boundaries of the Republick, will at all times 
particularly expose them to the danger of further 

a encroach- 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 185? 
u encroachments. Neither can there be much 
cc confidence placed in her preserving, for any 
cc length of time, the relations of peace and amity. 
“ However painful and burdensome the alternative 
fc may be, namely, a vigorous continuance of the 
cc war ; yet surely the evil will be compensated, 
“ if, by our energy and exertion, we ultimately 
cc defeat the developed views of France, and 
“ thereby retain that zveight in the scale of Europe , 
“ and influence among nations, which, by the 
“ spirit and industry of ourselves and our fore* 
ci fathers, we have, at the close of the eighteenth 
“ century, so justly acquired/’ 

We have not defeated the developed views of 
France, nor any one of those views; and we shall 
not retain that weight in the scale of Europe, which 
was the best legacy .of our forefathers.' Every en¬ 
croachment, here represented as big with danger 
to the commerce and the consequence of Britain, 
.you, in the name of your infatuated country, have 
sanctioned by the treaty of Downing-street; and, 
every evil,here predicted, will, most assuredly, ensue. 

The copious extracts, which I have made 
from Mr. Arthur,- leave me but little, to add 
upon this part of the subject of my letter. It may 
B b not, 


1 LETTERS TO THE 

not, however, be amiss, Sir, to state some few of the 
facts, which have already transpired in confirmation 
of that gentleman’s predictions. From the French, 
papers we learn, that measures are actually taking 
for turning to account the possession of the Rhine , 
the Meuse , and the Scheld. To prevent the free 
navigation of the latter river was, it must be re¬ 
membered, at one time, the only ostensible object 
of the War. It was then truly said, that this river 
was well calculated to be the rival of the Thames; 
and, such is now the confidence of its becoming so, 
that houses in Antwerp have risen to double their 
former value, since the signature of the Preliminaries 
of Peace. Where the capital is to be found to 
awaken, from its long sleep, the commerce of that 
city, and to render it once more the emporium of 
Germany, is a question, to which you may easily 
find an answer on the Royal Exchange of London . 

Precisely when , and to what extent , the dimi¬ 
nution of our commerce with Flanders, Holland, 
and Germany will take place, it is, at present, im¬ 
possible to say \ but, that a diminution will take 
place, at no very distant period, and to a consider¬ 
able amount, and that the evil will go on regularly 
increasing, X think no man, possessed of common 


sense, 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 187 

sense, and a common regard to truth, will hesitate 
to allow. 

II. With the West-Indies , Sir, the commerce of 
Britain will experience, first an immense loss, and 
afterwards a regular decline, till the arrival of that 
fatal hour, when she shall there no longer possess a 
single inch of territory; which hour is, perhaps, less 
distant than our infatuation will suffer us to per¬ 
ceive. 

In speaking of our commerce with Colonies, I 
must necessarily enter into details with respect to 
population and produce , for these are the source 
of exports , and furnish the means of purchasing im¬ 
ports , and these are the materials and the criterion 
of commerce. I must, too, consider this commerce 
relatively with that of France, with that of our rival, 
the sworn foe of our prosperity and our existence. 
Without taking this view of the subject, to enter on 
it at all would be totally useless ; for, the question 
is, not how much commerce and power we do, or 
shall, possess, but how much France possesses, or 
will possess, more, or less than we. Not to render 
still more complex, a discussion, which must of ne¬ 
cessity embrace objects so numerous, I shall here 
avoid supposing, that the commerce of the West- 
Bb 2 Indies. 


1 SB LETTERS TO THE' 

Indies will, for some years at least, be molested 
by military or naval operations, notwithstanding 
twenty-five sail of the line and twenty-five thousand 
men have sailed for St. Domingo, from the port of 
Brest, and notwithstanding you are attempting to 
send out a British fleet to follow them il la guetie. 

With a view to disengage this important sub¬ 
ject from the entanglement, in which it has been 
involved, by the officious ignorance of the de¬ 
fenders of the peace, I shall endeavour to give a 
clear statement of the West-India commerce of 
Great-Britain and France 1st. Previous to the 
breaking out of the French revolution ; 2nd. at 
the close of the war; and, '3rd. I shall give my 
opinion of what will be the state of it three years 
hence; for, I am not one of those, who are content 
to limit the duration of their national existence to 
less than six and thirty months. 

A writer. Sir, who has at once disguised and 
exposed himself under the name of Philanglus, 
has filled several entire pages of the Porcupine 
news-paper with figures, ranged in solid columns. 
These materials have been collected, undoubtedly, 
from official sources ; and, as far as they relate to the 
commerce of Great-Britain, I feel the less inclina- 
4 tion 

■’ * / 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 189 
lion to criticise them, because their only tendency, 
like that of the statements of Lord HawkesbuRy, 
is to furnish a proof of what I acknowledge to be 
true, and of what is, indeed, notorious to all the 
world; to wit: that the commerce of this country 
has been doubled during the war. I should not have 
noticed this writer, whom, from his style, and his 
notions of commerce and politics, I take to be 
some pedagogue out of place, were it not con¬ 
fidently asserted, that you. Sir, have declared his 
defence of the peace to be the best that has ap - 

That the commerce of Great-Britain had re¬ 
gularly increased from the beginning to the end of 
the War is certain ; but this would be a strange 
argument to use in defence of the Peace , were it 
not, at the same time, endeavoured to be main¬ 
tained, that the Peace woidd not , upon the whole , 
produce a diminution in that commerce. Here I 
and your defenders are at issue. With respect to 
one of the four principal heads, under which I 
have divided our commerce, I have already stated 
that this diminution must be immense, a statement 
which I have backed with the opinion of a writer 
of great eminence on the subject of commerce 

and 



190 


BETTERS TO THE 


and finance : I now proceed to prove, that a like 
diminution will take place in our commerce with 
the West-Indies. 

To reduce our resources even to what they were 
before the zvar would be certain ruin. Our perma¬ 
nent necessities have doubled ; instead of three hun¬ 
dred millions, our debt is now six hundred mil¬ 
lions. To attempt to support this debt upon our 
former resources would be like feeding a grenadier 
upon pap. ' With great kindness and care, the poor 
fellow might eke out a miserable existence, as long 
as he was suffered to lounge about his barracks; 
but his nerves would hardly be strong enough to 
support the fatigues of a field-day, much less to en¬ 
counter the toils, the hardships, and the dangers of 
war. 

■ Before the beginning of the late contest, the 
French commerce was, in the West Indies, much 
superior to that of Great-Britain, as will appear from 
the following table, on the statements of which I 
must here make some previous remarks. 

I have contented myself with stating the ex^ 
ports from the several colonies, because they are 
quite sufficient as a criterion of commerce, the im¬ 
ports and all other advantages ever bearing, a pro¬ 
portion 




French. British, 


TABLE, No. L—[To 

State of the West-India Commerce of Great-Britain am 
being an Account of fie Population of the several Colonies, 
of the Kind and Value cf their Cargoes. 


Colonies. 


Antigua - 
Barbadoes ... 
Bahamas and Bermudas j- 
St. Christopher’s 
Dominica - 
Grenada - •• - 

Jamaica - - 

Montserrat and Nevis 
St. Vincent’s - 
Virgin Isles - 


Population. 

! 


To 


al - 


'St. Domingo - - 

Guadaloupe - - - 

J St. Lucia - 

Martinico - - - 

Tobago - 

Fr. Guiana and the I. ofCayei ine J 

Tol a l . 


* The Miscellaneous Articles c(, 
trifling import.—Sugar, Molasses, I? 
the Miscellaneous Articles being, ha 
tninute for every useful purpose conn 
f These Islands produce no exp 
session of them is greatly conducive 
j This Colony, like our Bahama 


Navigation. 


Ships. 


3 ° 3 9 S 

78282 

14622 

22335 

26103 

24926 

280000 

20720 

13303 

10200 


233 

243 

200 

162 

188 

674 

122 

122 

40 


Tons. 


28663 

26917 

32155 
1 S 126 
25764 
135888 
IO 787 
1263,6 
6-516 


520889 

578623 

A7°9$5 

32219 

146444 

29325 

6213 


88g jj 1984! 


^97252 


Men. 


2048 

1942 

1590 

1814 

2014 

1344 

9°4 

969 

436 


face page 191.] 

i France, previous to the Commencement of the War, 
the Vessels cleared outwards therefrom , in one J. ear, and 


Sugar. 


2 ( 


; 


23061 


lbs. 


867136 

: 32979 a 


>379136 
985824 

5)661376 

>109376 

34753 6 
6295296 
“870736 


2 18] S4520S 


Molasses. 


Rum. 


Coffee. 


Gallons. Gallons. 


lbs. 


Cotton. 


lbs. 


Miscellane¬ 
ous Article- 
in value *. 


5910 

13489 

Si 54 
16803 
4300 
6416 
1313 

9656 

201 r 


716546 

415489 

3 3 4609 
63392 
670390 
2543025' 
2S9076 
SS27S 
21417 


680521 513 2222 


2032648 

977244 

71624c 


71008 


" 97 1 4 o 


160510 

2705975 

484640 

970816 

2062427 

1906467 

92472 

761880 

289077 


0^4024 c 1361S 


Value. 


. Sterl if.Steriing. 


52167, 

46324 

39495 

51912 

6954 s 

2472S6 

1 755 

2691 

2440 


592596 
539605 

510014 
302987 
614908 
2136442 
214141 
18645c 
166959 

S182012 


963779 


W 
* 39 f 
192 

333 

142 


2705 


318015 
65300 
18536 
38369 
10716 


450936 


26 


/ A 


5180 

1941 1 

2903 

953 


37747 


19348533 6 
61)301314 
1^061319 
5^144018 
a|8oi 142 


327793129 


1986139 

626348 

143034 

239163 

168144 


3162828 


71154188) 738462c 


160348 

300S46 

7555812 


S8526 

441062 

3235 ^ 


8486 

1389 ! 

976 

2965 

640 


732 0.'0i 

14564SJ 

3835 16 

1184022 
276503 


79 I 7 II 94 8237735! 14476) 10631326 


nsist of Taffia, Piemento, Ginger, Tobacco, Indigo, Cocoa, Hides, Fustic, Logwood, and some other articles of 
im, Coffee, and Cotton are, and must ever remain, the principal objects of West-lndia commerce. The amount of 
A^ever, given in this table, together with an account of the population and shipping, will render the whole sufficiently 
ected with the present subject. 

orts worth mentioning. They are, however, of great importance as naval stations in time of war ; and, as the pos- 
o the prosperity of the commerce with our other Colonies, it is fair to include them here, as far as relates to population, 
s and Bermudas, produced but little more than provisions for the settlers. 


















































































































RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 


191 


portion thereto. As far as relates to the old British 
colonies I have admitted the statements of Bryan 
Edwards ; but, with regard to those of France, I 
have had recourse to better authority. The state¬ 
ments respecting the population, shipping, and ex¬ 
ports, of these islands, are founded on those of 
Moreau de St. Mery, and of Monsieur J. M. de 
la Borde, both of whom were French colonists, 
one an inhabitant of Martinico, and the other of 
St. Domingo, 


[See TABLE, No. L ] 


The 


19.2 LETTERS TO TH.E 

The only statement. Sir, in this table, which 
will, I imagine, give rise to any doubt or contradic¬ 
tion, is that which relates to St. Domingo. Edwards 
has stated its population at 535,260, and its exported 
produce at £ 5,500,000 sterling, while my state¬ 
ment makes a considerable addition to both. But, 
not to speak of the superior information of the 
writers, from whom I draw my facts, the mistate- 
ments of Edwards have, in the face of the British 
nation, long ago been exposed by Mons. de Char- 
milly, who has clearly proved the “ Historical 
“ Survey of the French Colony of St. Domingo ,” to 
which Philanglus appeals as to “ high authorityf 
to be a tissue of misrepresentation, falsehood, and 
calumny. Mons. Charmilly divulged too many 
disagreeable truths to be listened to, at that time ; 
but, I beseech you, Sir, to read his book, and you 
will, I am sure, agree with me, that the work of 
Edwards, instead of being quoted as indubitable 
authority, ought to be consigned to everlasting 
oblivion. 

By means, which, in any times but the present, 
would have been the subject of parliamentary inquiry % 
at least; by means and by men, bearing a strong re¬ 
semblance 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 193 
semblance to those that lost us America, we lost 
St. Domingo, a colony worth more than all the 
other colonies we ever possessed. But, still the 
valour of our fleets and our army obtained us much 
that we preserved, 'till you and your colleagues once 
more reduced us to our former scanty limits. The 
state of our West-India commerce, at the close of 
the war, is exhibited in the annexed table. An in¬ 
crease had, indeed, been supposed to take place in the 
produce of our own colonies, as well as in those taken 
from the French; but, it is well known, that our 
old colonies do not admit of much increase, and it 
is more than probable, that all the increase, which 
was felt, arose more from the indirect trade with 
St. Domingo than from any other cause. For this 
reason, I have chosen to carry the same amounts 
through all my statements, except in that which 
relates to the French population of St. Domingo, 
which will receive a considerable addition (of which 
I shall speak more particularly hereafter) from the 
acquisition of the Spanish part of that immense 
island. 

My statements, Sir, relative to the colony of Su¬ 
rinam, and that of Berbice, Demerara, and Esse- 
Cc quibo. 


194 


LETTERS TO THE 


quibo*, are founded on authority, on which you 
may place implicit reliance. The statement re¬ 
specting Surinam has been furnished me by a gen-^ 
tleman, who has long lived in that country, where 
he is a planter and proprietor. That which relates 
to the colony of Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo, 
was, if I am not misinformed, some few weeks ago, 
submitted to Lord Hawkesbfry bv a committee 
of West-India merchants and planters. I am per¬ 
suaded that the correctness of neither will be called 
in question. 


[ See TABLE, No. IL] 


* These are the names of three rivers, at no very great dis¬ 
tance from each other, in what was called Dutch. Guiana, on 
the north-east shore of South America. 

£ Such* 



TABLE, No. II—[To face page 194.] 

State of the AVest-India Commerce of Great-Britain and France, at the Close of the War . 


Colonies. 

Population. 

Navigation. 

Sugar. 

Molasses. 

Rum. 

Coffee. 

Cotton. 

Miscellane¬ 
ous Articles, 
in value. 

Value, 

Ships . 

Tons . 

Men . 

lbs . 

Gallons + 

Gallons . 

lbs . 

lbs . 

'British Colonies . 

, Martinico * ----- 

% \ St. Lucia ------- 

"" Tobago - -- -- -- - 

® Surinam 

Berbice, Demerara, andEssequibo 

Total - 

f St. Domingo f - - - - - - 

g Guadaloupe % . 

£ [_ Fr. Guiana and the I. of Cayenne 

Total - 

520S89 

146444 

32219 

29325 

IO5877 

121996 

1984 

333 

192 

142 

309 

333 

297252 

38369 

18536 

10716 

3 5 1 3 3 
49888 

23061 

2903 

I94I 

933 

2796 

3368 

218845208 
52144018 
I1061319 
9801142 
26862964 
18839286 

68052 
239163 
143034 
• 168144 
268695 

6132222 

287750 

3797 i 4 ° 

7555812 

300846 

16003424 
15966562 

9334024 

323518 

441062 

5013436 
IO841TOO 

£. Sterl. 
513615 
2965; 
976 
640 
93121 

^.Sterling. 

5182912 

1184022 
383516 
276503 
1386355 
2054148 

056750 

32031 449894 

35022 

337533937 

887088 

641 

9972 

43623784 

25953140 

511317 

10467456 

170955 

6213 

398 

65300 

5180 

61301314 

626348 



160348 

88526 

1389 

500000 

1456484 

T *7 *7 T 68 

208 

6C300 

5180 

61301314 

626348 



160348 

88526 

1389 

1956484 

" —-—- : “-=-- 

L 


» The disproportion which appears between the Navigation and the Exports of the French Islands when compared with that of the British Islands, 
arises from the W having been included in the -tementa reia.ive l" aidant on a produce ofhaif a 

nniiJn tZSZZSL Z « derived great commercial advantages L this Isiand, which are not reeled upon in 


the above statements. ... 

+ This Island, owing to many causes, has greatly declined in every respec ; 

of all the advantages she could possibly enjoy. 


but I chose, in this view of the subject, to give France the full amount 














































































































* 








; 












































* 





















i 






























/ ^ 


4 • ' ' « 




* 




* g 






























/ 


















\ 












KT. IION. HENRY ADDINGTON. 195 

Such, Sir, was the spectacle, which our West- 
India commerce presented at the moment, when 
you and your colleagues chose to put an end to the 
War, and, as the price of Peace, to yield all the ad¬ 
vantages we had gained ; when you chose to take 
the superiority from our scale and place it in that 
of France, and thereby destroy, for ever, that source 
of riches and power, which the valour of our fleets 
and armies, under the favour of Providence, had de¬ 
posited in our hands, as a balance against the Eu¬ 
ropean acquisitions of our enemy. 

It now remains for us to see what will be the 
state of this commerce, in three years hence , what 
will be the change, which your administration will 
have produced, and what will be the consequences 
of that change. The immediate loss to us, and the 
immediate gain to our enemy, will be immense; 
but the subsequent relative change must produce 
the utter ruin of our West-India commerce. We 
shall at once become a little power, and Anally a 
power totally insignificant, in that part of the world, 
where, at the epoch of your unexpected-and omi¬ 
nous elevation, we were the greatest, and, indeed, 
the only power; where every sail bowed obedience to 
C c 2 cu 


196 


LETTERS TO THE 


our triumphant flag ; where the* commands of our 
Sovereign were the universal law ; where the earth 
teemed and the waters rolled for Britain, and for 
Britain alone. 


[See TABLE, No. III.] 


A sum- 


196.] 


TABLE, No. III.—[To face page 

State of the AVest-India Commerce of G reat-Britain and France, three Years after the Close of 1801. 


Colonies. 

i 

Po 

1 

1- 

pulation. 

Navigation. 

Sugar. 

— 

Mola 

scs. 

Hum. 

Coffee. 

Cotton. 

1 

1 

Miscellane¬ 
ous Articles, 
in value. 

Value. 

Ships. 

Tons, 

Men . 

lbs. 

Gall 

ms . 

Gallons. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

British Colonies - - Total - 

French Colonies before the War f 
Surinam - - - - - ~ 

* Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo 

Total - 

, 

120889 

IQ84. 

297252 

23061 

2188452O& 

61 

r~ 

>052 

5132222 

3707140 

9334024 

£. Sterl. 
513615 

/.Sterling. 

5182012 

— 

IC 

J 

>887791 

05877 

21996 

2705 

309 

333 

450936 

3 5 1 3 3 
49888 

37747 

2796 

3368 

327793129 

26862064 

18859286 

3165 

261 

,828 
P 95 

28775c 

79 i 7 ii 94 

16003424 

15966562 

8237735 

5 01 3 4 3 6 
10841100 

I 447 ° 

93121 

10031,20 

1386355 

205414I 

I' 

116642 

33+7 

83 =79 87 

4.3911 

1 3734 Q 4479 

343 

52 ^ 

28775c 

r11141180 

24092271 

107597 

r r 07 t 82c 


f i a ? oco are here added to the populat ion of St. Domingo on account of the acquisition of the Spanish part of the Island. 

* In this as well as in the preceding table, I might have included Curaqoa, St. Eustath, and some settlements of less importance; but, not 
having the necessary authentic information at hand, I have chosen to omit them, rather than risk any inaccuracy in my statements. Besides, considered 
in the grand scale cf commerce and dominion, they are of very little consequence. 

















































































RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 


197 


A summary of these statements will simplify 


the comparison : 


Before 1 
the War. “ 

f Great Britain, 
France, 

Population. 

520,889 

9 6 3>779 

Tons of 
Shipping. 

297,252 

450,936 

Seamen. 

23,061 

37)747 

Before 
the Peace. , 

f Great Britain, 
[ France, 

956,750 

!77,i68 

449,894 

65,300 

35,022 

5, j 8o 

Three Years. 1 
hence. ^ 

f Great Britain, 
France, 

520,889 
1,3 16,642 

297,252 

535^957 

23,061 
43 ) 9 11 


Value of Ex¬ 
ports. 

L. Sterling. 

5,182,9I2r 
10,631,326 


10 , 467,456 

1 , 956,484 

5 , 182 , 912 , 

14 , 071,829 


Thus, Sir, previous to the Peace, our West- 
India colonies had a population of more than nine 
hundred thousand souls, a produce of nearly ten mil¬ 
lions and a half, and employed nearly half a million 
tons of shipping, with more than thirty-five thousand 
seamen 5 while the population of the French co¬ 
lonies was reduced to less than two hundred thou¬ 
sand souls, her produce to less than two millions, 
her shipping to sixty thousand tons, and her sea¬ 
men to the number of five thousand. In three years 
time, the West-India commerce of Britain, sup¬ 
posing her to retain, in full prosperity, all the co¬ 
lonies you have left her, will be reduced to a popu¬ 
lation of five hundred thousand souls, its produce to 
five millions, its shipping to less than three hundred 
thousand tons, and its seamen to twenty-three thou¬ 
sand in number 5 while the commerce of the enemy 

will 






198 


LETTERS TO THE 


will be fed by a population of nearly a million and 
a half of souls, by a produce of fourteen millions of 
money, employing upwards of fifty thousand tons 
of shipping, navigated by more than forty thousand 
seamen ! This contrast must pierce the heart of any 
man, not accustomed to anticipate with indifference 
the decline and disgrace of his country j and, if I 
thought you could contemplate it without shame 
and remorse, I should think my time ill-bestowed 
in presenting it to your view* 

Now, Sir* as to the correctness of my statements , 
those which relate to the past will admit of little con¬ 
tradiction, or doubt. Those which relate to the 
future may be objected to on three grounds: ! It 
will, probably , be urged , that the colonies of Surinam , 
and that of Berbice, Demerara , and Esssequibo , are 
not surrendered to the French, but to the Dutch ; 
2. That the future population of St. Domingo is over¬ 
rated, and that the colony will not so soon as three 
years , if it ever does , return to its former flourishing 
and productive state ; 3 . That the old British colonies 
may increase in population and produce , which will 
consequently occasion an increase of our commerce 
with them. 

1 . It is not t)ie nominal possession of territory, 

of 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 199 
of any kind, and particularly of colonies, that is ad¬ 
vantageous to the possessor. Such possession may 
sometimes add to the honours of a Sovereign, or 
state, but never to their riches, or their power. Our 
King was, ’till very lately, stiled King of France , 
and the title of King of the Indies is still used by 
the feeble and abject Sovereign of Spain. Nor is 
it of any consequence of what nation the inhabi¬ 
tants of a colony consist. Those of the Island of 
St. Thomas are almost entirely English and Scotch ; 
divine service is performed according to the rites 
and ceremonies of the Churches of England and 
Scotland, and in the English language; yet, the 
colony belongs bond fide to Denmark, which derives 
therefrom all the advantages that it yields. The 
government, of the colonies I am now speaking of s 
may, indeed, be, for some time at least, administered 
in the 7iamc of the Batavian Republick ; but, can 
any man of common sense and common candour, 
after viewing the state of vassalage, in which that Re¬ 
publick has been left by us, affect to believe, that the 
commerce of all its colonies will not be rendered 
either directly or indirectly, subservient to the ad¬ 
vantage of France ? Holland has not one single 
characteristic of an independent state. French ge¬ 
nerals command in all her districts: her towns and 

fortresses 


200 LETTERS TO THE 

fortresses are garrisoned by French armies ; French 
pro-consuls dictate the measures of her Cabinet; 
France makes War and makes Peace for her, an¬ 
swers for her conduct* stipulates for cessions in her 
favour, and alienates her territory. Can such a state 
be called independent ? Can such a state be said 
to be the sovereign of any thing ? You, Sir, ought 
to be the last of all mankind to atiribute to her 
such quality ; you, who have actively consented to; 
you, who have sanctioned and ratified her subjec¬ 
tion, by receiving a portion of her dominions from 
the hands of her conqueror, without even the for¬ 
mality of her consent*. 

Without the real, though, perhaps, not the no¬ 
minal possession* of the colony of Surinam and of 
that of Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo, France 
would derive little benefit from those posses¬ 
sions in South America, which she has been so 
anxious to extend. The mouth of the river Su¬ 
rinam is the best naval station on the coast, and, as 
a cruising station, one of the best in the world. 
Unpossessed of the river Essequibo, she would hold 
but a slackened rein over the Spanish territory, 
which is another great object in the long cataloiige 

of 

* Vide Appendix H, page xl 4 





RT, HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 201 
of her meditated conquests. Add to these consi¬ 
derations, the desire, which she must ever have, to 
prevent Holland from again becoming opulent and 
powerful, and the still stronger desire of acquiring 
opulence and naval power herself, and who can be 
ideot enough to believe, that she will leave the im¬ 
mense commerce of these colonies really in the pos¬ 
session of that conquered and subjected state ? Say/ 
however, that this commerce shall still be carried 
on by the rightful owner, that none but Dutch ships 
shall trade to the ports of these colonies, and that 
Holland alone shall receive their exports; still France 
will be the real and only possessor of all the benefits 
therefrom derived; for, while the fleets and the 
treasury of Holland are at her command and at her 
absolute disposal, it matters very little, whether the 
fleets be stationed in the Texel, or at Brest, or whe¬ 
ther. the treasure be collected at Amsterdam, or at 
Bourdeaux ; it matters very little' to whom you affect 
to have surrendered her colonies, they are in fact 
surrendered to France, who now boldly and truly 
places them on the list of those commercial acqui¬ 
sitions, which are to eclipse and extinguish the , 
commerce of Great-Britain. 

2. It may be objected to my statements, that 
D d the 


202 


LETTERS TO THE 

the future population of St . Domingo is over-rated, 
and that it will not so soon as three years hence, if it 
ever does, return to its former flourishing and pro¬ 
ductive state . 

The population of the French part of St. Do¬ 
mingo has been greatly under-rated by Bryan Ed¬ 
wards, who estimated the white inhabitants at 
38,000, at a time when he might easily have been 
informed, that the zohite militia alone actually corn- 
sisted of 16,000 men, a circumstance that will fully 
satisfy any one capable of the least reflection, that 
the whole white population could not possibly have 
been less than from fifty to sixty thousand souls. To 
the French population before the War (and I-shall 
hereafter prove that it will, in three 'years hence, 
supposing Peace to continue, have experienced no 
diminution) I have added the present population of 
the Spanish part of the Island, which your c< best 
<c defender,” Philanglus, states, upon the autho¬ 
rity of Edwards, at 20,000, and which I, upon 
the authority of Moreau de St. Mery, state at 
125,000, of which only 15,000 are slaves; and 
which population is distributed thus : 


In 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. [2Q3 

In the district of Azua - - - 500 


•-- 

Bani - - - - 

1,800 

— 

Moulins a Eau 

2,500 

— 

Jayna - - - 

2,000 

— 

Santo Domingo 

20,000 

— 

Mont-de-Plate 

600 

— 

Bayaguana 

1,000 

— 

Seybo - - - 

4,000 


Higuey - - - 

500 

— 

Samana - - } 

500 

•— 

Savane-la-Mer ) 

— 

Monte Christ - 

3,000 

-— 

Cotuy - - - 

8,000 

— 

La Vega 

8,000 

«— 

St. Yago 

27,600 

— 

Hinche - - - 

' 12,000 

— 

Banique 

7,000 

-— 

St. Jean de la } 

5,000 


Maguana 3 

-—— 

Des Plaines - - 

21,000 



125,000 


This statement of Moreau was made from the 
actual census, furnished him by the Spanish Go- 
P d 3 vernor 





204 LETTERS TO THE 

vernor. The parts of a hundred were dropped in 
order to avoid encumbering the sentences, or the 
total would, probably, have amounted to a thousand 
or two more. By casting your eye on the popula¬ 
tion of the City of Santo-Domingo and its district, 
you will perceive whence has arisen the error of 
Bryan Edwards, and the consequent error of his 
humble imitator. They have mistaken the popu¬ 
lation of the capital for the population of the whole 
colony l And these are <c high authoritiesthese 
are writers, on whom a British Minister has the 
weakness to rely for a defence of his measures! 

Nor will the other objection, that St. Domingo 
will not , so soon as three years , recover its former 
flourishing and productive state , require any thing to 
remove it but a simple statement of facts. 

Since incapacity, or something worse, lost us 
the possession of this Island, and particularly since 
your disgraceful Peace has restored it to the hands 
of our enemy, it has been much in vogue, to speak 
contemptuously of its value; to represent it as a 
colony, which was, indeed, once of some importance, 
but which is now in such a state of devastation as 
to leave the owner no hope of deriving any advan¬ 
tage from it, for many years, at least. I can re~ 

member 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 205 
member, Sir, when different sentiments were enter¬ 
tained, and when a different language was held. I 
can remember when, soon after our landing on the 
Island, Lord Hawkesbury (now Lord Liverpool) 
congratulated the House of Peers on the capture of 
a Colony, capable of yielding an export produce of 
ten millions annually • and this congratulation took 
place after the far greater part of the ravages had 
been committed. But ?iow behold ! this colony of 
unexampled, and almost incredible resources, though 
it has been ever since on the return to peace and 
prosperity, is become cc the RUINED and RA¬ 
VAGED St. Domingo a mere waste, a heap of 
rubbish, where a banditti of negroes are wandering 
about amongst the graves of their masters. But, not 
to leave any room for cavil on this score, I beg leave 
to quote the very words ofyourc^;z^7*PHiLANGLUs: 
—“ The French colony, thus, appears to have con- 
tained, eleven years ago, above 530,000 inha- 
fC bitants. It was, however, computed, in the year 
“ 1793, that the class of negroes alone had sus- 
cC tained a diminution of more than 100,000. Mr. 

Edwards says, that since that time the mortality 
<c has been still more rapid ; and, including the loss 
“ of whites by sickness and emigration , he reduces 

66 the 


206 


LETTERS TO THE 


cc the population of St. Domingo, in June 1796, to 
two-fifths of the whole number of inhabitants 
(white and black) which it possessed in the be- 
ginning of 1791. According to this calculation, 
“ upwards of 300,000 human beings have miserably 
“ perished in this devoted country within the short 
“ period of six years. Of the cultivation and com- 
“ merce of the Island, we may form an adequate 
“ idea from the same authority ; from which it ap- 
pears, that the average exports from the French 
c< part of St. Domingo previously to the Revolution, 
“ were rather more than £5,000,000. In 1791, 
“ they were upwards of £5,500,000. In 1800, 
“ (according to an official report of the Minister of 
“ the Interior, made in 1801.) 

u The Imports into France from all the livres sterling 
“ French colonies in the East and 

u West-Indies, were, - 1,433,800 or £6\, 825. 

" The Exports from France to all the 
u French colonies in the East and 
" West-Indies were, - 282,300 or «£l 1,762. 

cc In 1788, St. Domingo imported French 
* goods to the amount of more than .£3,500,000 
<f in five hundred and eighty vessels belonging to 
" France, carrying 189,679 tons, exclusive of 98 

vessels 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 207 
<e vessels engaged in the African trade. In 1800, 
“ I believe, (though I will not state this as a po- 
sitive fact) not a single French vessel cleared out 
“ from France for this Island .” 

Now, Sir, the inference, evidently intended to 
be drawn from this statement, is, that the whites 
and others who have emigrated , are dead, or at 
least, are lost for ever to St. Domingo; that three 
hundred, thousand , out of five hundred thousand 
blacks and mulattoes, have really died, or have been 
killed; and that the exports from the colony, in the 
year 1800, amounted to only a certain portion of 
<£61,825 ; and that, not a single ship did, in that 
year , clear out for the colony ! 

I will not charge Philanglus with wilful 
falsehood , nor with wilful misrepresentation, for, from 
the simplicity of his manner, it is evident, that his 
misrepresentation proceeds from that ignorance, in 
which he, probably, participates with those, who 
ought to have been better informed, before they 
adopted a measure, so desperate as to accept of a 
defender in him. But, Sir, this circumstance does 
not render an exposure of his misrepresentation less 
necessary; for, we have lately learned by expe~ v 

rience. 


208 


LETTERS TO THE 


rience, that neither the improbability, nor the false* 
hood, of a statement, operates to its discredit. 

The devastation and the carnage, in St. Do¬ 
mingo, have been great; but have they been such as 
to warrant a belief, that 300,000 men have been ac¬ 
tually killed by 200,000 survivors? There is, on 
the face of this statement, .something too wonderful 
to obtain credit from any one, who has advanced 
beyond the history of Jack the Giant-killer# Phi- 
langlus does, indeed, drop a word about emi¬ 
gration ; but he confines it to the zvhites , and makes 
no deduction, on that account, from the number of 
his slam. If Philanglus had been where I was, 
in the year 1793, he might have seen ten thousand 
blacks, whites, and mulattoes, land, in one day , and 
at one port, from vessels, coming from St. Domingo. 
Had he understood the subject, on which he was 
writing, he would have known, that the emigration 
began in the year 1790, and that it continued ’till 
Great-Britain and America entered into a treaty 
with Toussaint, in the year 1798 he would have 
known, that 80,000 of the inhabitants of the French 
colony emigrated to the United States, that the 
slaves were there hired out by their masters, that 

the 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 20 9 
the whole population there increased, rather than 
decreased, in number; and that both masters and 
slaves have, since the autumn of 1798, been gra¬ 
dually returning to the colony. He would have 
known, that there was a very considerable emigra¬ 
tion, of all colours, to Old France ; that great num¬ 
bers went to New Orleans, to the Floridas, to Cuba, 
to Porto-Rico, to St. Thomas* and elsewhere: so 
that Ph-ilanglus may rest assured, that a very great 
portion of “ the 300,000 human beings, who have 
“ miserably perished in that devoted country ” are 
yet alive and merry ; and, I dare say, I shall re¬ 
ceive his unfeigned thanks for having thus wiped 
the tears from his philanthropic cheeks. 

Some writers deal in slaughter, as a popular 
species of the sublime, and as an infallible cure for 
the obstinate drowsiness of their readers. Whether 
this innocent motive produced the statement of 
Philanglus is more than I can say, but that state¬ 
ment is certainly a most glaring exaggeration.— 
Mons. JeanM. dela Borde, who wrote in 1798, 
computed the mortality, occasioned by the Revo¬ 
lution, in the French colony of St. Domingo, at 
fifty thousand souls , and the eventual loss of negroes, 
supposing the colony soon to return under the go- 
E e vernment 


210 LETTERS TO THE 

vernment of France, at eighty-five thousand ; and 

these numbers were, by all the St. Domingo planters, 

. whose opinions I had an opportunity of knowing 
(and they were not a few), thought to be much too 
high. There have been not many destructive battles 
in St. Domingo. Assassinations, murders, and most 
horrid acts of cruelty, have, indeed, been abundant; 
but, 300,000 men are not, in this way, so soon and 
so easily destroyed. The fact is, that the far greater 
half of the depopulation proceeded from emigration 
to friendly or neutral countries, and the persons 
so emigrating are now, and have long been, re¬ 
turning. Like birds that the gun of the fowler has 
scared from their food, they have been scattered in 
every direction ; but your friendly hand having re^ 
moved the cause of their fear, they are now flocking 
back to their haunt, where, when they are all as¬ 
sembled, they will scarcely perceive the diminution 
in their numbers. 

But, false as is the statement of Philanglfs, 
with regard to the depopulation of this colony, his 
statement respecting the diminution in its resources 
is still more so. “ Of the cultivation and commerce 
“ of the Island,” says he, “ we may form an ade ~ 
E quate idea” from these facts, to wit, “ that, in 
4 “ the 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 211 
u the year 1791, the exports were in amount up- 
<c wards of £5,500,000, and that, in the year 
ff 1800, the imports of France, from all the French 
“ colonies were only ^61,825, and further, that, 
ce in the same year, not a single French vessel 
“ cleared out from France for that Island.” 

To tell a lie in the zvords of truth is an art 
ascribed to the Society of Jesus, and were I dis¬ 
posed to join in the base calumnies heaped on that 
Society, I should not scruple to rank Philanglus 
amongst the most finished of its pupils. He tells 
us, that, from the facts, which he has stated, cc we 
“ may form an adequate idea of the cultivation 
“ and commerce of this Island,” which “ adequate . 
“ idea” evidently is, that the colony did not, in 1800, 
export produce to the amount of £6 0,000, and that 
not a single ship did, during that year, clear out for 
the colony. This is the cc adequate idea,” which the 
deceived and insulted British public are taught to 
form of the cultivation and commerce of the French 
colony of St. Domingo; and this is the writer, 
whom, report says, you and your colleagues regard¬ 
ed as the best defender of the peace ! 

Now, Sir, I beg you to listen to a few truths , 
and if you do not turn with scorn from Philanglus 
E e 2 and 


212 


LETTERS TO THE 


and his defence, you must have much less sense as 
well as less candour than I sincerely believe you to 
possess.—During the year 1800, during that year in 
which Philanglus would persuade you, that the 
exports of St. Domingo did not amount to £ 60,000, 
and that not a ship cleared out for the colony ; during 
that very year, it appears, from the Custom-house 
returns of the United States, that 642 vessels were 
entered inwards, and 428 were cleared outwards, 
for the <e ruined and ravaged St. Domingo !” It also 
appears from those returns, that, during the same year, 
foreign produce, much of which came from St. Do¬ 
mingo, to the amount of 39 millions of dollars (up¬ 
wards of eight millions sterling), was brought into 
the United States for re-exportation.—Besides this, 
the Danes, the Swedes, and the Hamburghers, car¬ 
ried on a considerable trade with the cc ruined and 
(( ravaged” colony ; nor was even Britain without her 
share; and, Sir, no trifling portion of those West- 
India imports and exports, boasted of in the House 
pf Commons, on the memorable third of November 
last, ought to have been attributed to the “ ruined 
<c and ravaged St. Domingo.” 

Of these facts I was in possession at the time 
when Philanglus began to fgure-away in the 

columns 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 213 
columes of the Porcupine. To stop him would 
have been an aet of mercy, of which I thought 
him unworthy, and as to justice, I knew’ he would 
execute it on himself, were he but favoured with a 
sufficiency of rope. In the mean time, however, 
lest his ignorant spirit should resist the dictates 
of conviction, I provided me an instrument where¬ 
with to give him the coup-de-grdce. This instru¬ 
ment is a letter from a merchant, who w r as in 
St. Domingo, in the year 1800, and who gives 
me the following account of the state, in which 
the French colony then was. 

“ Liverpool, Dec. 21 , 1801. 

“ Dear Sir, 

In answer to your request about the state 
$ c of St. Domingo, I have to inform you$ that, 
6C when I left it, in the month of April 1800, I had 
M resided at Cape Francois for about three months, 
“ prior to that time, and had occasion to go to 
« Gona'ives and St. Mark's to purchase cotton, 
« about 100 English miles distant from the Cape. 
« The estates, every where, appeared in good 
<c order and most of the sugar zvorks and distilleries 
€S were rebuilt . All the estates had been restored 

<c to 


214 LETTERS TO THE 

“ to the proprietors, except those on the list of 
cc emigrants. From the best information I could 
“ get, they made nearly one-third the quantity of 
“ produce they formerly made , and every one 
6 ‘ seemed to think, they could make full as much 
“ as formerly, only for the large army they had to 
4f keep up to guard such an extensive colony, and 
<6 carry on a war against General Rigaud and his 
cc Mulattoes, who were then in great force in the 
“ south-west part of the Island, but who are now 
“ subdued and returned to cultivate the estates. 
cc During the three months I was in the Cape, about 
“ one hundred and thirty American vessels loaded 
with produce sailed from that port, and also a num - 
“ her of Danes and Hamburghers , and ten French 
cc ships. In that time, I sold goods in the Cape 
<c to the amount of 102,000 Spanish dollars, and, 
tc much to the honour of the Blacks and Whites, 
<c collected the whole in cash without any dispute. 
“ I paid government duty on my inward cargo 
“ 10,500 dollars , and on my outward cargo of sugar, 
66 coffee, cotton, and fustic, 7,000 dollar's, my ship 
“ carrying upwards of 400 tons; and I was allowed 
“ to bring away a quantity of dollars, as I had not 
v room in the ship to take more produce. As to 

“ the 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 215 
cc the police of the Cape, I have seen none better 
<c any where; indeed all colours seemed to be 
“ happy with each other, for I never heard of a 
robbery nor saw any of the inhabitants intoxi- 
cated, or quarrel in the streets. The troops were 
“ well armed, cloathed, and disciplined, and can, 

<c at a short notice, bring into the field upwards of 
100,000 able men, under General Toussaint 
‘ c Louverture, Commander in Chief of the Colony 
“ in the name of the French Republick. The Cus- 
cc tom-house, Treasury, and the other Publick 
“ Offices, were conducted the same as in all other 
“ French colonies. I have been often in company 
cc with the General in Chief and many of the 
cc Black and White Officers, who always spoke .* 
“ with great respect of the French Nation, and 
“ zvished it was Peace with England, that the French 
“ might come and take possession of the Colony. As 
“ to what state they are in at this time is not in my 
“ power to say; but, when I was there, produce and 
“ money were plenty, provisions and dry goods very 
“ cheap, and the Colony in a prosperous state. 

“ This, Sir, is a rough sketch of what I know 
“ of the Island at that time. Since that the Black 
£f army has taken possession of the Spanish part of 

“ the 


216 


LETTERS TO THE 


cc the Island, and a Mr. Caze is made Governor 
<c of the city of St. Domingo. He is a Frenchman 
cc and came out from France, while I zvas in the 
“ Colony , as first aid-de-camp to General Toussaint. 

cc I wish, Sir, it were in my power to give you 
Cf a more circumstantial account, but being always 
<c engaged with my commercial business prevented 
“ me.” 

“ I remain, dear Sir, 

f< Your obedient Servant, 

cc * * * * # * tf 

Not having taken the precaution to obtain this 
gentleman’s liberty for so doing, and not having 
time to wait for a return of post from Liverpool* 
X do not think myself authorized to insert his name* 
to which, considering the insignificance of my 
work, he might, too, very properly object; but, 
should an occasion offer for Xikn to state these facts 
at the bar of the House of Commons (and I am one 
of those, Sir, who hope, that such an occasion will 
yet offer), I pledge myself to the publick, that his 
testimony there would be strictly conformable to 
the letter here submitted to your perusah 


This 


k T. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 217 

This letter, Sir, firmly establishes the truth of 
All my statements relative to the French colony of 
St. Domingo. Here we find, that 130 American 
vessels, besides a number of Danes and Ham- 
burghers, and ten French Vessels* took in lading 
and sailed, in the space of three months , from the 
port of Cape Francois alone, which every one knows 
to have been the most ruined arid ravaged part of 
45 the ruined and ravaged St. Domingo;” We 
further find, that many of the distilleries and sugar- 
works were already rebuilt, that the plantations 
were in a prosperous state, and that the estates had 
been restored to all those proprietors, who had been 
wise enough not to place confidence in England- 
We find no want of that capital , of which your 
defender has represented the colony to be so desti¬ 
tute ^ we find cargoes, even British cargoes, paid 
for in cash; we find a profitable custom-house under 
proper regulations, and we find abundance of 
proof, that the produce of the colony, even in 1800^ 
was full as great as that of Jamaica ever has 
been. Before facts like these how quickly do the 
leaden columns of Phii/Anglus dissolve into their 
native dross i 

t f a 


218 LETTERS TO THE 

If such, Sir, was the state of the French colony 
of St. Domingo, in 1800, and such, I am persuaded 
you will now be convinced it was, it has cer¬ 
tainly been growing better and better to this hour. 
What, then, will it be three years hence , when all 
the proprietors, except those who foolishly trusted 
to British wisdom and British perseverance have re¬ 
turned, strengthened by the connexions, which they, 
for the most part, have formed in the United States 
of America? When France shall, too, enjoy the 
inestimable advantages to be derived from the sole 
possession of the Spanish part of the Island, which, 
will greatly augment her population, strengthen her 
military defence, protect her navigation in time of 
War, extend her cultivation, and, above all, give 
her an ample, a regular, and never-failing supply 
of cattle of every description, a resource of which 
every other West-India colony is almost entirely 
destitute ? Is it too much, Sir, to suppose, that, 
with all these additional advantages, and many 
more that could be mentioned, the French colony 
will, in the course of three yearsi attain to its for¬ 
mer commercial importance ? Most assuredly it is 
not, and those who attempt to hush the apprehen¬ 
sions, naturally excited by such a supposition, can 

be 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 219 
be influenced by no motive but that of a desire to 
deceive the nation, and thereby to shelter Minister 
from the effects of its resentment. 

3. The remaining objection which will pro¬ 
bably be urged against my statement, is, that the 
old British colonies may increase in produce and 
population, which will, consequently, occasion an in¬ 
crease in our commerce with them. 

The plantations in our old West-India colo¬ 
nies, Sir, like the fields of the mother country, 
will never be exhausted, while there are hands and 
capital to carry on their cultivation; but the pro¬ 
gressive state of the former bears a strong resem¬ 
blance to that of the latter, and leaves very little 
reason to hope for any considerable augmentation 
in produce ; and, without an augmentation in pro¬ 
duce, an increase of inhabitants would be an eviL 
Besides the state of the lands, however, there are 
two causes which will powerfully tend, not only to 
prevent an increase, but to occasion a decrease, in 
the produce and population of our old colonies ; 
1 mean the migration of persons, and the transfer of 
capital, to the more favoured colonies of our enemy', 
and the vast advantages which the French planters 

F f 2 and 


220 


LETTERS TO THE 


and merchants will enjoy over those of Great-Britain> 
both in the field and in the market. 

The population and produce. Sir, of our Lee¬ 
ward Islands have already experienced a diminu¬ 
tion 5 a diminution, indeed, which we felt not, 
because what we lost in St. Vincent’s, Grenada, 
Barbadoes, and St. Christopher’s, we found trans¬ 
ferred, with ten-fold interest, to the colony of 
Surinam and that of Berbice, Demerara, and Esse- 
quibo. These colonies are fertile beyond concep¬ 
tion, and are capable of improvement to an incal¬ 
culable extent. The progress of the latter colony, 
as exhibited in the following account, which your 
colleague Lord Hawkesbury knows to be au¬ 
thentic, will enable you to form some idea of the 
value of one of those numerous acquisitions, which 
were gained by the valour and the blood of our 
countrymen, and wdiich you have surrendered into 
the hands of an enemy, who pi they had beaten in 
every part of the world. 


'3 


Accoun; 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 


221 


Account of the produce exported from the colony of 
Berbice , Demerara , and Essequibo y since the 
establishment of a British custom-house there. 


Years. | Vessels. 

Hogsheads 

of 

Sugar. 

Pun¬ 
cheons 
of Rum. 

1 Bales 

of 

Cotton. 

Pounds weight 
of 

Coffee. 

1797 1 j 
{from V 45 
August) J , 

1,483 

720 

2,425 

4,938,230 

1798 202 

6,472 

1,803 

14,738 

4,506,325 

179 9 212 

! 5,392 

1,501 

15,758 

8,846,877 

1800 333 

; 10,513 

2,615 

33,806 

15,966,562 


If this colony. Sir, while regarded as mere 
conquest, while its tenure was so very insecure, 
increased, as we here see it did, more than one- 
third in its produce in the space of three years, 
what, with its vast extent, may not be its produce 
when safely lodged in the hands of a power, which 
now commands the world ? It was the migration 
of British subjects, and the transfer of British ca¬ 
pital, that occasioned this prodigious increase. 
Both sought a more propitious soil. And, if the 
difficulties and dangers ever attendant on a state of 
warfare, were insufficient to restrain, this inclina- 
t'lQn, what do you imagine will be able to restrain 

it 







222 LETTERS TO THE 

ut in future ? The mere circumstance of the colony- 
having changed masters ? O, no, Sir ! The planters 
who removed their capital and their slaves from 
Grenada to Demerara, took into their calculation 
the possibility, and the probability, of a transfer of 
the colony. And, if even this did not obstruct 
their speculations, what is there to obstruct them 
now, when the adventurers have seen the golden 
mine, and have begun to rifle its treasures ? That 
the considerations of country, language, manners, 
and laws, will operate but as a very weak impe¬ 
diment is clearly evinced in the instance of St. 
Thomas and many other colonies. Capital seeks 
for an increase, as water seeks the sea, and it will 
follow wherever that increase is to be found, 
whether at home or abroad, whether in the country 
of a friend, or in the country of an enemy. 

Another cause of the decrease in the popular 
tion and produce of our old colonies will be, the 
vast advantages, which the Trench planters and 
merchants will, as I before observed, enjoy over 
those of Great-Britain, both in the field and in the 
market. Their vessels will sail cheaper than ours, 
their slaves will be cheaper obtained; and, unless 
we open qur West-India ports to the Americans, 

unless 


223 


R T< HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 

unless we, in this point, give up our Navigation 
Act* and with it those advantages, which are ab¬ 
solutely necessary to the preservation of any con¬ 
siderable portion of our naval power, the French 
colonists will purchase lumber, flour, pork, and all 
the articles of first necessity, at a price greatly in¬ 
ferior to that, on which ours will be able to obtain 
them.* Be you assured. Sir, that one part of the 
plan of the rulers of France, is, to make the interest 
of America coincide with the ruin of England 5 and, 
in the prosecution of this plan, nothing can be 
imagined more effectual, than the granting to 
America, what she has so long and so anxiously 
sought for, those commercial concessions, which 
England will not, which England cannot grant 
her. 

The produce of the French colonies* being 
raised at less expense, will, of course, be sold 
cheaper, than that of the British colonies; which 

circum- 


* The idle notion of obtaining provisions from Canada, 
Nova Scotia, and God knows where, is now-a-days completely- 
exploded. They must come from the United States, or the 
sugar-plantations mast be turned into Indian corn-fields, and the 
food of the colonists must be confined to homony and mush,. 



224 


LETTERS TO THE 
circumstance, together with our exclusion from 
Flanders and Germany, and the opening of those* 
countries to France* by the navigation of the 
Rhine, the Meuse* and the Scheldt* will leave us 
the British Isles alone as a market for our West- 
India goods, which* as they will gradually become 
less profitable to the planter* will gradually cease 
to be raised ; negroes, to the great joy of Saint Wil- 
Berforce* will cease to be torn from the bleeding, 
bosoms of those tender fathers and mothers who now 
barter them for a bit of glass, the negro-driver will 
cease to lash* the African will cease to labour, and 
thirty thousand British sailors, who labour much 
harder* will cease to encounter the dangers of the 
sea. Blessed prospect! and all this* Sir* you will 
have satisfaction to reflect, is to be attributed to 
you ! 

Hitherto, in considering the decline of our 
West-India commerce, I have proceeded upon the 
supposition, that it will, for some years, at least* 
remain unmolested by warlike operations; but, 
I cannot conclude this letter, long as it already is, 
without endeavouring to impress on your mind, the 
great and imminent danger to be apprehended from 
even the present movements of our enemy. A French 

fleet 


R T. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 225 
fleet and army, in spite of all the efforts, which I am 
persuaded you have made to prevent it, have sailed 
for the West-Indies. That army andfleet too you have, 
however, been led to believe, are destined for the 
‘reduction of Toussaint and his Blacks to submis¬ 
sion. But, Sir, you will, when it is too late, find, that 
no such armament was necessary for that purpose. 

Toussaint, Sir, holds his commission from 
the French Republick, in whose name he com¬ 
mands • in that name every act of authority, in the 
colony, is exercised; the Custom-house collects its 
duties, taxes are raised, writs are issued, processes 
are carried on, judgments are given, executions are 
levied, sentences are passed and executed, in the name 
of the French Republick. And, that Toussaint is not 
an imitator of the infamous and accursed Parliament, 
who raised a rebel army in the name of their king, 
you may learn from the statement of my correspon¬ 
dent at Liverpool, who informs you, that he was 
frequently in company with Toussaint and his 
officers both Black and White, who « always spoke 
“ with great respect of the French nation, and 
wished for a Peace with England , THAT TIIE 
“ FRENCH MIGHT COME AND TAKE 
“ POSSESSION OF THE COLONY.” My 
Gg 


corres- 


226 


i 


LETTERS TO THE 
correspondent adds, this striking circumstance, that 
aM. de la Caze, a Frenchman, who came out from 
France in 1800, was, and is, Governor of the Spanish 
part of the Island, and resides in the city of Santo Do¬ 
mingo. —Methinks I hear you titter at the authority , 
on which my apprehensions are grounded; but. Sir, I 
hope, for the sake of my country, that the docu¬ 
ment I am now about to produce, will turn your 
mirth into serious reflection. It is dated from the 
seat of Government of the United States of Ame" 
rica, and is signed by the French Embassador, who 
was, last year, sent out to that country by Buona¬ 
parte. With these premises in your mind, Sir, 
read the document, and throw yourself on the 
mercy of your country. 

“ Notice is hereby given, to Merchants trading 
“ to the Island of St. Domingo, That the government 
“ of the said island, in. order to provide against the 
“ fraudulent entries and declarations made by 
“ traders, with the view of evading the duties laid 
cc on the value of goods, have desired the commei'cial 
“ agents of the French Rcpublick in the United States? 
cc to attest the prices quoted in the invoice bills as 
cc conformable to the prices current in the places 
“ from whence the shipments are made. In con- 

“ formity 




RT. HON. HE'NRY ADDINGTON. 227 
formity to that desire, the agents aforesaid are 
<c directed to give the above-mentioned certificates. 
“ Such, therefore, as. chuse to have their bills so 
" certified, may apply for that purpose to the French 
cc Commissaries in the several ports of the United 
“ States. 

“ L. A. PICHON. 

Georgetown (Potomac), 1th Flore at, 

“ 9thyear, (22d April, 1801.”) 

Did you ever see this notice before. Sir? Were 
you before acquainted with a circumstance, which 
“ leaves no loop nor hinge to hang a doubt onf ’ 
that Toussaint is, to all intents and purposes, an 
officer under the French Republick, and that his 
army is at her absolute command ? If you were, 
and yet suffered that army to be re-inforced by an 
army from France, sailing out with your know¬ 
ledge, and with your consent, while our brave fled 
lay manacled at Torbay, it is not for me to sit in 
judgment on your conduct. But, Sir, I am per¬ 
suaded you were not, and I sincerely hope, that the 
information I now give you, may produce such 
measures as will yet defeat the perfidious intentions 
of the enemy. There is, however, no time to be 
lost. The conquest of Jamaica is an enterprise much 
G <r 2 less 

o 


228 LETTERS TO THE 

less difficult than you imagine, and if that island 
falls, the sun of the Western hemisphere will never 
again shine on a British sail. 

I would now, dispirited as I am by contem¬ 
plating the approaching ruin of my country, enter 
on my proposed observations on the future state of 
our commerce with the United States of America ; 
but, as our commercial connections with that coun¬ 
try turn principally upon our exports thereto, they 
more properly belong to the subject of my next 
letter. In the mean time, 1 remain. 

Sir, 

Your most humble. 

And most obedient servant, 

Wm. cobbett. 

P. S. Since this letter was written, accounts 
have been received of a partial revolt of the Blacks 
against the authority of Toussaint, c< whom” says 
the writer, “ they had , at last , discovered to. be no 
if more than a mere driver acting under the orders 
<c of their European masters ” late, however, as 
these poor ignorant wretches were in making this 
discovery, it would seem, that they had more early 
1 information 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 

information than the British Minister .—This new 
insurrection, so far from retarding, will greatly ac¬ 
celerate, the complete re-establishment of the aa- 
cient system. It will furnish Toussaint with an 
excuse, which he otherwise would not have had, to 
deprive the Blacks in general of that portion of 
freedom, which they now enjoy, an object, which, 
with the co-operation of the French army, he will 
accomplish in the spaefe of tw r o months. This in¬ 
surrection, however, which will now be instantly 
quelled, is one amongst many favourable events, 
the advantages to be derived from which, we have 
for ever lost by the Peace. 

Destitute of the aid of a French army, Toussaint 
might have been reduced to such a state *as would 
have induced him to have recourse to us $ and the 
whole Island of St. Domingo might, with his hearty 
co-operation, have become an appendage of the 
British crown, an acquisition which would have 
been more than balance against the European ag¬ 
grandisement of France. 



230 


LETTERS TO THE 


LETTER III. 

Pall-Mall, 29th Dec. 1801* 

Sir, 

Our manufactures will follow the fate of our 
commerce: their existence is as inseparably con¬ 
nected as that of the flesh and the bone : they have 
grown up together, and together they must prosper, 
or decline. 

The principal manufactures of this kingdom 
are, hardware , woollens , linens , and cottons. There 
are, indeed, many other important articles; but, 
the facts and reasoning, applied to these, will, with 
some trifling exceptions, necessarily apply to all the 
rest. 

In speaking of manufactures, of any and of 
every sort, two things present themselves for consi¬ 
deration ; to wit: the means of production , and the 
market. The means of producing hardware, of the 
finer sorts, are not very soon, nor very easily, ac¬ 
quired; this article of manufacture requires men 

trained 



RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 231 
trained to the business from their infancy ; it owes 
its perfection to a system too complicated to be 
soon established in any of the countries of our rival. 
But the same observations do not apply to the 
coarser kinds of hardware, the production of these 
require little else than strength, metal, and hre. Of 
the first France has more than we, and at a much 
lower rate ; of the second her supply may now be 
more abundant and cheaper than ours; of the 
third, without which the other two were of little 
use, she was almost totally destitute, until you, Sir, 
insured her a constant supply, ^our “ best de¬ 
fender,” Philanglus, asks, with a triumphant 
sneer, how she is to rival us in hardware, without 
coals? She has them. Sir; you have left them at 
her absolute command; to the leather of Stavelo 
and Malmedy, to the iron, copper, and lead of 
JLuxemburgh and Limburgh, you have generously 
added the coal-pits of Namur, Liege, and many 
other places, and have given her the principal rivers 
of Europe to convey them and their products wither¬ 
soever she may please. 

If I am told of that capital , the imaginary ex¬ 
clusive possession of which seems to be the only 
source of your consolation; if I am tcM of the 

long 


232 Letters to the 

long time, necessary to bring these means into ope^ 
ration, I turn from speculation to fact $ I turn to 
a country, where experience has proved, that neither 
great capital, nor long time, is necessary to the 
accomplishment of what I dread. There was a 
time. Sir, when the now United States of Ame¬ 
rica imported their plough-s/tarcs from England 5 
and, I dare say, you can recollect, that, only twenty* 
seven years ago , the great, though inconsistent, Lord 
Chatham, declared, that he “ would not suffer Ante- 
“ rica to make a hob-nail .” Yet, Sir, this country, 
though , eighteen years ago , a bankrupt, now fur¬ 
nishes an abundant supply of all the articles, of 
which I am speaking. Cutlery, a few choice edge- 
tools, and the finer kinds of hardware, she imports 
from England ; but of anchors, cannons, mortars, 
bombs, balls, stoves, chains, bolts, bars, hinges, 
agricultural tools, edge-tools in general, and, in¬ 
deed, all the coarser kinds of hardware,'she pro¬ 
duces more than she wants, and at a price greatly 
beneath the prime cast of those articles in England. 
And, instead of not making a hob-nail , she makes 
nails of every sort, in such quantities, and at so cheap 
a rate, that, in spite of our commercial regulations, 
in spite of the rigour of our laws, and the vigilance 

of 


RT. HON. HENRY- ADDINGTON. 233 
of our officers, she exports no small quantity of this 
article to our continental and West-India colonies, 
while the supplying of those of other nations is al¬ 
most exclusively in her hands. 

With this example before our eyes, can we, 
after surveying the present boundaries andinfluence 
of France, which give her at once the market and 
the means of production; can we doltishly persist,* 
that this article of our manufactures will not expe¬ 
rience a considerable diminution ? 

In fine woollen cloth France has, to a certain 
extent, long been our rival. Cloth of this texture 
requires the wool of Spain, of which we shall, in 
future, have just as much as it pleases France to let 
us have, and not an ounce more. Those articles, 
which demand much wool and little labour, England 
will always be able to supply cheaper than any other 
country; but, these articles are the least profitable 
to the nation, and the vent of even these will be 
circumscribed by all those commercial restrictions, 
which France can adopt herself, or dictate to our 
other customers, of doing which she will let slip no 
opportunity. 

The increase in the manufacture of Irish linen 
has, like much of our other increase, been produced 

II h by 


.234 LETTERS TO THE 

by the war, which has interrupted the operations of 
the manufacturers of that article, in the other coun¬ 
tries. Can we suppose, that a decrease will not 
result from a peace, and from a peace, too, which 
has left those countries in the possession of a power, 
whose principal object is the ruin of England. The' 
countries annexed to France abound in the raw ma¬ 
terial, of which linen is made ; of hands she has 
more than an abundance; and, if you again ask me, 
whence the capital is to come, to revive the languish¬ 
ing manufactories, I again refer you to the exam¬ 
ple of America, or to the sentiments and dispositions 
on the Royal Exchange. 

As to cottons , that immense source of individual 
and national wealth, we altogether depend, for the 
raw material, on our colonies and on foreign na¬ 
tions. Our consumption of this material amounts 
to 44,000,000 pounds weight, each pound costing, 
upon an average, 2s. and, when manufactured, 
worth, upon am average, 7s. 6d. Towards this 
astonishing consumption, the increase of which has 
been not less astonishing, our colonies, previous to 
your peace, furnished 25,000,000 of pounds; those 
which that peace has. left us will furnish only 
9,000,000, little more than one-fifth part of what 

6 


our 


RT.. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 235 

our present establishment would need, the other 
16,000,000 having been thrown into the lap of our 
enemy. The cotton of Demerara was not only our 
own, not only did the profits of its cultivation 
come to England, not only did the carriage of it 
home employ British ships and British seamen, but 
it was th z finest in the world. This precious mate¬ 
rial is now gone to France, whither it will speedily 
be followed by all its attendant advantages. 

For almost the whole of our future supply of 
cotton we must look to the Brazils and Georgia; 
abundant sources, indeed; but the former totally 
under the power of France, and, from the latter, 
our exports will be the price of those commercial 
sacrifices, which, at no very distant period, we shall, 
probably, be called on to make to another Republick . 
Our supply will, at best, be very precarious, and 
will come to us at a vast increase of price, white the 
profits of culture and the advantages of navigation 
will remain exclusively in other hands. 

There are some persons. Sir, who affect to 
believe, that the climate of France is unpropitious 
to the manufacture of cotton, forgetting, I sup¬ 
pose, that our cotton manufactories came from that 
country, and forgetting that the same cloud covers 
II h 2 Dov er 


230 LETTERS TO THE 

Dover and Calais. Others pretend, with your 
X£ best defender,” Philanglus, that the French 
cannot equal the inimitable ingenuity of our ma¬ 
chines. Of this I greatly doubt, but, if it be 
really so, I am sure that the makers of those ma¬ 
chines will never refuse to lend them a hand. To 
attempt to monopolize these inventions would be 
like bottling up moon-shine, or hiding the sun with 
a blanket. In short, with her vast increase of ter¬ 
ritory and population, with the means of produc¬ 
tion'in her hands, and the market of the world at 
her command, is it next to impossible but France 
should endeavour to rival us in this capital branch 
of our trade, and if she makes the attempt, it is 
impossible but it should be crowned with success. 

Cf Yet,” (say the selfish and foolish' partizans 
of the Peace) “ yet, let us hope that this will not 
<c happen so soon” Precisely how soon it may 
happen it is not in my power to foretell; but, that 
this, species of manufacture is capable of an in¬ 
crease astonishingly rapid, we ourselves have fur¬ 
nished a striking example. No longer than twenty 
years ago our annual importation of cotton amounted 
to only four millions of pounds weight, and it now 
amounts to forty r our millions. Capital , your adored 

capital, 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 23? 
capital. Sir; that capital, of which you seem to 
think we shall retain the exclusive possession, will 
follow where interest leads. He who can sell his 
goods cheapest will ever find the readiest market, 
and he who finds the readiest market, will never 
want for capital to furnish him with a cargo. 

Having now stated those facts and reasons, on 
which my fears of the successful rivalship of France 
are founded, I shall now, as briefly as I can, en¬ 
deavour to show why, and in what degree, that 
rivalship will affect us in our several markets, follow¬ 
ing the same order, which I observed in consider¬ 
ing the diminution in our commerce. 

To the Continent of Europe our exports of ma¬ 
nufactured goods will be diminished by the revival 
of the manufactories in France, Belgium, and 
Holland, and by those new regulations, which 
France will compel the nations of Europe to adopt. 
Of her eagerness to exercise this species of com¬ 
pulsion, we have an instance in her treaty with 
Portugal, signed at Madrid, on the 29th of Sep¬ 
tember. That this treaty,* which absolutely 
severs a connection between England and Portu- 

ga!> 


Vide Appendix G, 




233 


LETTERS TO THE 
gal, formed by mutual interest and cemented by 
an uninterrupted friendship of a hundred years, 
was not prescribed by France without an evil design 
upon our commerce, is evident from the tendency 
of its stipulations; and, if any doubt remained on 
that score, it would be completely removed by the 
comments, with which she has announced the 
treaty to the world. These comments which are 
to be found in the speech addressed to the Legis¬ 
lative Body by the Counsellor of State, Defer- 
mont,* state, that the object of France, was, to 
establish such regulations, as should, in time “ in- 
“ troduce French ivoollens into the ports of For - 
cc tugal” to break those engagements, “ which 
made that country submit to the monopoly of Eng * 
“ lish merchants and manufacturers ,” and rendered 
it “ an English colony , a great , and almost exclu - 
cf sice, market for the productions of her industry 
Such, Sir, was the object of the treaty of 
Madrid, in the stipulations of which you have left 
our ancient and faithful ally fettered hand and foot. 
Lord IIawkesbury’s reply to Mr. Grey, on this 
subject, can never be too often repeated. Mr. 
Grey asked, whether the recent treaty between 

France 


Vide Appendix I, 



RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 239 

France and Portugal would not deprive us of the 
commercial privileges, which we had theretofore 
enjoyed with the latter country; to which the 
noble and amiable Secretary cooly replied, that he 
had no official information on the subject of the 
treaty, and consequently could make no positive 
reply ; but, that, with respect to the particular 
point in question, it was one of those stipulations , 
which nations might enter into in time of profound 
peace , as well as at any other time; and, that, if 
Portugal withdrew the privileges hitherto granted 
to English manufactures, we might , in return , 
zcilhdraxv the privileges hitherto granted to the Por¬ 
tuguese wines, and admit those of OTHER COUN¬ 
TRIES upon the same footing ! So, because Por¬ 
tugal is compelled to encourage the importation of 
our enemy’s manufactures, we, in revenge, are to 
encourage the importation of the wines of our 
enemy ! As a mask to our own baseness, we' affect 
to believe, that Portugal has voluntarily withdrawn 
our privileges ; and, the sacrifices, with which we 
hope to appease the wrath of the Grand Nation, 
we affect to regard as proceeding from motives of 
self-interest ! And, do you really believe, Sir, that 
the penetrating eyes of the world will not see through 

this 


LETTERS TO THE 


240 

this mask ? Buonaparte and the companions of 
his triumph must be highly diverted at the miser¬ 
able tricks, with which we are attempting to dis¬ 
guise our disgrace. 

France, upon looking round her, will find 
several other nations on whom she can, and will, 
impose such commercial regulations as she finds 
necessary for favouring her own manufactories, or 
those of any other nation, and for excluding ours. 
In spite, however, of ail she can do, the nations of 
Europe must, for some time at least, receive our 
manufactories; but every obstacle thrown in their 
way will surely enhance their price to the con¬ 
sumer, which will as surely diminish the quantity 
consumed, until the price be lowered by the rival- . 
ship of France or some of her satellites. At first 
the diminution may not be severely felt by us; 
but, it will go on gradually increasing, hill our 
present exports to the Continent will become 
much less than they were before the war, during 
which they have increased from *£’1,530,000, to 
*£2,545,000. 

To the lVest-Inclies, Sir, our exports of manu¬ 
factures must instantly experience a diminution of 
nearly one half their present amount. We have 

given 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 241 

given upon nearly one half of our market, especi¬ 
ally if we take into the calculation, the goods which 
we sent to St. Domingo. That this diminution 
will, to a certain degree, take place, is admitted 
by your defender Philanglus, because, I suppose, 
he regarded the denial as too glaringly false to be 
believed, even by the ignorant herd that rejoiced at 
the Peace. 

There remain to be considered, Sir, our ex¬ 
ports to the United States of America , that capa_ 
cious market which has, for several years past, 
taken more than one-fourth part of the whole of our 
exported manufactures . This whole has lately 

amounted annually to £l 3,056,000, and it must 
be fresh in your mind, that Lord Hawkesbury, 
in his defence of the Peace, stated, that our manu¬ 
factures, exported to the United States of America 
alone, during each of the last three years of the 
war, amounted to £6, 232,000. What purpose 
that cool and solid young nobleman meant to 
answer by this statement is, probably, explained 
by the pedagogue, Philanglus, who, after piling 
up a whole column of figures, upon the back of the 
unfortunate Porcupine, to prove the acknowledged 
and well-known increase in the exports to the 
I i United 


242 LETTERS TO THE 

United States, makes the following sagacious ob¬ 
servations : 

cc Our commercial connections with the 
(C United States of America are fixed on such solid 
“ foundations , that we have no reason to apprehend 
tc that the future political dissensions of Europe 
4C will affect them. For many years to come, the 
Americans, although an extensive sea-coast, good 
<c harbours, and a spirit of enterprize inherited from 
« their forefathers, suggest to them the emplov- 
« ment of a part of their capital in commerce , must 
cc continue to direct the largest portion of it to 
“ agricultural improvements. While we can sup- 
cc ply them with better and cheaper goods than 
44 other nations can manufacture for them, or than 
ct they can manufacture for themselves, they will, 
44 from the strongest tie, that of interest, continue 
44 to be united to us; but as a German writer well 
f4 observes, there are considerations, totally inde- 
44 pendent of policy and interest, which must and 
44 will for ever assure to this country , the almost 
“ exclusive commerce of the United States; these 
“ are, in the first place, the consanguinity of the 
^ two people; and, in the second, the similarity of 
** religion, language, manners, and taste; the con- 

" sumption 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 243 
cc sumption of the manufactures of Europe, will 
necessarily keep pace with the progress of culti- 
<c vation in America, until at some period yet ex* 
<c tremely remote, the surplus hands not wanted for 
<c agriculture or commerce must seek employment 
“ in manufactures.—Our trade to North America 
Cf is of the greatest importance, as it principally 
cC consists in the export of our home production 3 
cc and manufactures. Its increase has been very 
<c rapid: and whether it be measured by the ton- 
nage of the shipping employed, or by the value 
“ of the merchandize sent out, by years of war, or 
“ by years of peace, it wall justify this conclusion, 
“ that our FUTURE INTERCOURSE with the 
“ United States , will ENLARGE those sources of 
“ employment and of wealth, which that country has 
<c opened to British manufactures and merchants. 

This is the conclusion which, doubtless. Lord 
Hawkesbury meant should be drawn from his 
pompous display of the state of our American ex¬ 
ports -* and, Sir, I sincerely regret, that it is in my 
power to prove this conclusion to be grossly er¬ 
roneous. — 

I i 2 The 


* Vide Appendix N. 




244 


LETTERS TO THE 


The increase in our manufactures, exported to 
the United States of America, has arisen from three 
causes: From the regular increase of population and 
consequent wealth in the United States: From the 
decline in the manufactures of Holland, and the 
suspension of those of France and the countries now 
annexed to her empire : From the emigration occa¬ 
sioned by the war: From the re-exportation of our 
manufactures from the United States to the colo¬ 
nies of France, Holland, and Spain. 

All the increase, which has arisen from the 
first of these enumerated causes, that is, from the 
regular increase of the population and consequent 
wealth of the United Stales, we shall retain, ’till 
France shall be able to rival us, or ’till our trade 
shall be interrupted by the hostility of the American 
government, of which latter contingency I shall 
speak by and by. But, Sir, that this increase forms 
but a comparatively small portion of that, which 
has, of late years, taken place, will evidently ap¬ 
pear from the following facts. A census was, last 
year, taken in the United States, from which you 
may learn, that their population then amounted to 
'5,214,801 souls. In the year 1790, when the for¬ 


mer 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 245 
mer census was taken, it amounted to 3,929,526 
souls; so that, during the ten last years, the increase 
has been, 1,285,475 souls. But, from this increase 
must be deducted 30,000 emigrants from St. Do¬ 
mingo, who had not yet returned to their Island, 
when the census was taken; and, at least, 80,000 
emigrants from France and Holland, and from the 
other French and Dutch colonies and dependencies. 
This reduces the increase to 1,175,475 souls, which 
is an addition of little more than one-fifth to the 
number and consequent wealth of our permanent 
customers, while the increase in our manufactures 
exported to America has, during the same period 
of ten years, been nearly as two to one: in 1790 
they amounted to £ 3,694,000, and in 1800 they 
amountd to £6, 232,000. 

Such a disproportion would have taught Phi- 
langlus, if he had understood the subject on which 
he was writing, or rather figuring, to seek for other 
and more proportionate causes; and, he would have 
found, that these causes were, the suspension of the 
manufactories in the countries, under the power of 
our enemy, which manufactories will now be re¬ 
vived. He would have found, that the emigration, 
occasioned by the war, sent to America backs to 


7 


wear 


246 


LETTERS TO THE 


wear our cloth and cotton, and money to pay for 
them; which emigration has not only now ceased, 
but a re-emigration is daily taking place. And, 
which is of still more importance in the account, he 
would have found, that of the vast quantity of British 
manufactures, exported to the United States of 
America during the war, one-fourth, at least, was 
re-exported to the West-India and South American 
colonies of our enemy, and her allies, Holland and 
Spain. These facts are so well-known, and the 
deduction from them is so evident, that, if Phi- 
LANGLUshad applied to any American merchant, 
if he had spent only one evening in either of the 
American Coffee-houses, if he had strolled but one 
hour in the American Change, he would have been 
fully convinced, that our manufactures exported to 
the United States, even next year , will experience 
a diminution of more than ONE-FOURTH, on the 
correctness of which opinion I would venture to 
stake my life. 

Nor, Sir, is the enjoyment of the American 
trade, even with this diminution, fixed on such 
“ solid foundations" as your “best defender,” Phi- 
langlus, seems to imagine. This man knows no¬ 
thing of the present state of America, or of any 

other 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 247 

other nation. He is a mere furbisher of cast-off 
maxims, a collector of political orts: he is fit enough, 
indeed, to be the secretary of a friendly society, to 
keep the accounts of a poor-house, to be a meter at 
a soup-shop, or a tally*man to the London Flour- 
Company ; but, as to the resources, the interests, 
and the views of nations, he knows no more than 
the baby that is now riding my stick across the 
room. Ide, poor soul, thinks, that there are cir¬ 
cumstances, “ which, independent of interest and 
“ policy, will for ever insure to this country the 
“ almost exclusive coinmerce of the United States !” 
But, Sir, no longer to suppose you a party to his 
opinions, I now throw the driveller aside, and ad¬ 
dress myself directly to you. 

You, Sir, are, or ought to be, a statesman ; you. 
Sir, have, or ought to have, an accurate knowledge 
of the resources, the inclination, and the views, of 
America; and, if you have, I need not tell you how 
ticklish is our situation with respect to that country; 
on how slender a thread depend our commercial 
connections. If, however, you will take the trouble 
to open those writings and selections of Peter 
Porcupine, to which you did me the honour to 
subscribe, you will find, relating to this subject. 


some 


248 


LETTERS TO THE 


some facts, with which, without the least derogation 
from your talents or your zeal, I may venture to be¬ 
lieve you are, as yet, unacquainted. To these facts I 
shall sometimes beg leave to refer you. 

The “ solid foundation ,” on which our com¬ 
mercial connections with America are fixed, is a 
treaty, all the commercial and maritime regulations 
of which, are of themselves to cease in two years 
after the end of the late, or the present (I do not 
know which to call it) war with France. Then , 
Sir, it is to be determined, in the negotiations of a 
new treaty, what further regulations shall be adopted 
with respect to the American Commerce zvith our 
West-Indies ; and also it is to be determined, whe¬ 
ther in any, and in what cases, neutral vessels shall 
protect enemy s property *. These are points. Sir, 
on which America will be much more obstinate than 
you imagine. They have ever been the objects 
nearest her heart; and, she will ’ere long obtain 
them, or she will effect the ruin of our colonies. 
The most formidable part of the opposition to the 
treaty of 1794, arose from those stipulations, which, 

in 


* Vide the Treaty, Art. XII. Porcupine’s Works, Vol. IT. 
page ?57. 




rt. ho N; henrA Addington. 24 $ 
Ill granting* 16 the Americans a permanent trade 
with our Islands, restricted the carrying on of 
that trade to vessels of 70 tons burden, or under, 
and which exacted, as the condition of that pri¬ 
vilege, Ahat America should neither ship nor carry 
West-India produce to Europe. This^ though no 
trifling concession on our part, though a dan¬ 
gerous departure from our Navigation Act, was* 
instead of being received as a favour, regarded as 
an injury and an insult. Nor, were these sentiments 
confined to the Jacobins of America: they were 
the sentiments of the nation, who, with the utmost 
unanimity, rejected the stipulations ^ which were 
even excepted in the ratification. So that, in two 
years from this time, our commercial stipulations 
with America will cease, and we shall then have to 
open our .West-India ports to her, or she will impose 
such restrictions on the importation of our manu¬ 
factures as shall compel us to yield. She will im¬ 
pose, on goods of British manufacture) a duty so 
much higher than that which she imposes on goods 
of other nations, as shall at once greatly diminish 
the importation of British goods, and, in the end* 
turn the channel of trade to other countries. 

Kk 


This 


250 LETTERS TO THE 

This mode. Sir, of forcing us into commercial 
concessions was proposed to Congress in the year 
1788. It was again revived in 1793-4, and was 
carried, in the Lower House, by a very great ma¬ 
jority, but was thrown out in the Senate. By turn¬ 
ing to Porcupine’s Works*, you-will find, that Mr. 
Jefferson was the author of this plan, which was, 
in both instances, brought forward by Mr. Mad- 
DisoNf; and you will please to recollect, that 
Mr. Jefferson is now President of the United 
States, and that Mr. Maddison is his Secretary of 
State . You ought to know, also, that the faction 
of our enemy had, in America, gained a complete 
triumph, previous to your disgraceful Peace, which 
will estrange from us the last of our friends. There 
will not remain a man in that country, who will 
not, hereatter, be ashamed to harbour an attachment 
to England. The contempt of us, in the continent 
of Europe, is great; but, in the continent of Ame¬ 
rica it will be, if possible, ten thousand times 
greater. 

That 


* Vide Dispute with Great-Blitain, Porcupine’s Works, 
’Voh I. p. 343, and the following. 

f Vide the French Minister’s Intercepted Letter, Porcu* 
Line’s Works, Vol. I. page 280< 



RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 251 

That the people of America will do nothing 
contrary to their interests ,1 know ; but, the people 
of* every nation look to their immediate interests; 
and, as I observed to you before, it is one part of 
the plan of v France, to make the interests of America 
coincide with the ruin of England; and to effect this 
nothing more is wanted than to open the French 
and Dutch West-India ports to the former, and 
thereby furnish a plausible, and even just, grounds 
for such a discriminating system as will exclude our 
manufactures, little by little, from the United 
States. 

Nor, were we disposed to carry on this trade, 
sword in hand, should we have the powder to gratify 
that disposition. While the marine of France was 
unable to stir; while it remained unaugmented by 
that of Holland and Spain, and unrevived by the 
immense resources, which you have left in her hands, 
the naval and military power of America was a 
thing to be contemned ; but, your Peace has at once 
humbled us and exalted every other nation, whose 
interests, or views, are, or may be, opposed to our 
own. It is much in vogue to talk of the United 
States of America as we talk of Otaheite. The sage, 
who owns the True Briton , speaks of it as a country, 
K k 2 V ^ 


252 LETTERS TO THE 

Ci at so great a distance as to be little interesting to 
56 Englishmen 3” Philanglus calls it an agricultural 
country 3 it is never mentioned (except, perhaps, by 
way of parenthesis) in any of the comparisons be¬ 
tween the increase of the commercial and maritime 
greatness of England and other nations; when, in¬ 
deed, it is thought necessary to make a flattering 
display of exported British manufactures, America 
becomes an item in the account 3 but, on all other 
occasions, our financiers and politicians affect to 
regard that nation as being independent of us in 
form only, as a mere colony, where the foolish peo¬ 
ple hew the woods and till the lands, to no other 
end than that of earning money to pay for British 
manufactures, aiid to swell the estimates of British 
navigation and commerce. Would these profound 
statesmen condescend, however, to receive infor¬ 
mation from such a distances would they exercise 
but a very trifling portion of that industry, which 
they bestow in hunting out proofs of the decline of 
the commerce of France, Holland, and Spain, they 
would find that the United States is not entirely a 
nation of ploughmen and threshers 3 they would 
find, that she has considerable manufactories, and 
some little commerce 3 they would find that her 

exports. 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 253 
exports, in the year 1800, amounted to 71,000,000 
dollars, or upwards of 14,000,000 pounds sterling *, 
and they would find, to their great surprize, that 
her shipping, at the end of that year, amounted to 
939,000 tons, nearly one half as much tonnage as 
Britain now has, and 200,000 tons MORE than 
Britain had only nineteen years ago , at which 
time America was a bankrupt , and had not a 
single plank swimming on the water. These are, 
one would think, statements which might, with no 
great inapropriety, be introduced amongst the 
financial facts of the eighteenth century Rut, 
no! men of all parties imitate the servants of the 
King, who have long seemed ashamed or afraid to 
turn their eyes to America; but, be you well as 
suredj Sir, that, if fortune does not speedily favour 
us in France, America, which we obstinately persist 
ip treating with contempt, will, with the co-opera¬ 
tion of a power that knows how to manage her bet¬ 
ter, give us the most mortal of those blows, under 
which you have doomed us to sink. 

Such, Sir, not to mention numerous other un¬ 
toward circumstances, are the solid foundationsf 

on 

* This was before tfie scarcity in England was known in 
America. In 1801, the exports from America have been much 
greater. 



254 


BETTERS TO TH£ 


on which our commercial connections with the 
United States of America are fixed, and on which 
we are taught to rely, not only for a continuance of 
our present exports to that country, but for an in¬ 
crease of those exports! 

With regard, however, to our exports to Ame¬ 
rica, as with regard to all the other branches of 
our trade, it is, as I before observed, impossible to 
say, precisely token and in zchat degree , the diminu¬ 
tion wdll take place. The result of my statements, 
and reasoning, is, that the diminution in the ex¬ 
ports of our manufactures in general, will, in the 
course of three years, reduce them to what they 
were before the commencement of that war, from 
which, and its attendant conquests, a very great 
portion of the increase has arisen; and that, the 
European and colonial aggrandisement of France, 
with the irresistible influence, which the Peace htis 
for ever insured to her, will enable her, in time, 
whether by intrigue, by force, or by rivalship, almost 
entirely to cut off our market, and to produce that 
ruin, which it is her favourite object to effect. 

If a short time should, as I am fully persuaded 
it will, verify my predictions; if even the first 1 year 
should cause a diminution of one-fifth in the foreign 

3 orders 


ft T. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 255. 

orders for our goods (not taking into the account 
a hundred thousand domestic consumers, zvho will 
now go to reside in France), and if half a million of 
people should thereby be thrown out of zvork*, the 
inhabitants of Manchester, Norwich, Exeter, Bir¬ 
mingham, and Sheffield, will derive no more plea¬ 
sure in reflecting on their foolish illuminations, than 
the brutal miscreants, who broke my windows to the 
tune of cc Peace and Plentynow derive from the 
price of provisions , on which score, by the by, I 
beg leave to present both them and you my hearty 
congratulations f. 

Having 

o 


* The silk weavers, in Spitalfields have already felt the 
effects of the Peace. Many of the orders, which they had re¬ 
ceived, have been countermanded ; and, if I am not greatly 
misinformed, several hundreds of those, who were in employ 
before the Peace, are now begging about the streets. 

f Since the Preliminaries of Peace were signed; since 
u Peace and Plenty ” have been sung through our streets, and 
have decorated the windows of those, who live by amusing the 
idle, and flattering the tastes of the ignorant, bread has not, upon 
the whole, fallen a farthing, and every other article of life has ad¬ 
vanced in price; mutton has risen one-ninth, beef one-seventh, 
butter one-tenth, bacon one-twelfth, and potatoes have trebled 
in price. There is now no resource left, but to cry aloud, and 

spare 



256 LETTERS TO THE 

Having now, Sir, taken a view of the effects, 
which the Peace with Bcjonaparte will have in 
our Colonics , our Commerce , and our Manufactures; 
and having, as I think, fully proved that it will 
finally produce the ruin of them all, I should next 
enter on an examination of those effects with re¬ 
spect to our Constitution , that Constitution, which, 
you truly say, has been Cf preserved by the War,’* 
and which I greatly fear will be destroyed by the 
Peace; but, this must be reserved for another op¬ 
portunity. I wish our Constitution to be what it 
zuas. Such as my small share in it came to me, 
such I wish it to descend to my children. But, 
this is a matter that requires more reflection than I, 
at present, have time to bestow on it. The rights 
and privileges of a British subject I most earnestly 
desire to preserve 3 but, I would sooner be de¬ 
prived 


spare not, against forestallers, regraters, monopolists, farmers, 
corn dealers, millers, bakers, graziers, batchers, cheese-mongers, 
dairy-maids, and every other living creature that has, either di¬ 
rectly or indirectly, any thing to do with the producing, procuring, 
or preparing of human food; but, above all, against Quakers, whose 
religion forbids them to employ either the arm of flesh or the arm 
of the law, the only two things, in this world or the world to 
come, that your hunter of monopolists is afraid of. 



RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 257 
prived of them for ever, than suffer a syllable to 
escape me, prejudicial to the durability or the in¬ 
fluence of the throne. 

With this. Sir, I take my leave, begging you 
to be assured, that, I have, in this discussion, been 
actuated by no motive but that of public good , 
and that, whatever I may have incautiously uttered, 
savouring of asperity, is to be attributed, not to any 
personal dislike, but to that anger and resentment, 
which, after having combatted so long with the 
regicide Republick, I must naturally feel against 
those, who have established and exalted her on 
the ruin and disgrace of my country. 

I am. 

Sir, 

Your most humble. 

And most obedient servant, 

Wm. cobbett. 

P. S. Sir, the reply, the standing reply, to 
observations such as I have, in these letters, taken 
the liberty to address to you, is that the enemy zvoidd 
7 xot, at present, grant us better terms of Peace , and 
ive zvere tenable , by a longer continuation of the war, 
L 1 to 


LETTERS TO THE 


258 

to compel him so to do. I deny both these positions. 
A dignified and resolute mode of proceeding would 
have procured good and honourable terms, even 
now; and, if it had failed, I am certain, that this 
nation had both the means and the will to force him 
to compliance. The proof of these assertions I 
postpone to some opportunity, which will be afford¬ 
ed me by a new zveekly publication , the first number 
of which I shall submit to the public in a few days. 
Having mentioned this work. Sir, give me leave to 
observe before hand, that I have no intention to 
range myself in a systematic opposition to His 
Majesty's Ministers, or to their measures. Such an 
opposition I disclaim. The first object} which I 
have invariably had in view, is, to contribute my 
mite towards the support of the authority of that 
Sovereign, whom God has commanded me to honour 
and obey; and, as the means most likely to effect 
this object, I have generally endeavoured to sup¬ 
port the measures of those, who have been ap¬ 
pointed to exercise that authority. If, therefore, I 
do now, or shall in future, openly disapprove of 
Some of the measures of His Majesty’s present ser. 
vants, religiously abstaining from every act and 
word, tending to weaken the government, and ex¬ 
erting 


RT. HON. HENRY ADDINGTON. 259 
erting all my feeble efforts to defend it against its 
enemies foreign and domestic, I trust that you your¬ 
self, if I should happen at all to attract your 
notice, will have the justice to acquit me of incon¬ 
sistency of conduct. 


« 


APPENDIX 


CCS , : iac a y; l .tit 

■ r ) '.i*. ' - ^ * 

■ ; ’ • • . x , - . - .a 4ilW->V 








, 





( Vle 











appendix. 



A. 

NOTES 

Presented to the French Government by M. Kalits- 
cheff, the Russian Minister at Paris. 

The Undersigned hastens to communicate to Citizen 
, Talleyrand the commands he has just received from his Court. 

His Majesty the Emperor of all the Rnssias, relying 
upon the Chief Consul’s love of justice, by which he has 
obtained so great and so merited a reputation, entertains the 
hope, that he wiH fulfil the engagements into which he had 
entered with the late Emperor, not to insist upon the hard 
conditions to which the King of Naples had been obliged 
to submit. The Undersigned thinks it his duty to remind 
Citizen Talleyrand, that the admission of the five Articles, 
presented to the French Government by way of answer to 
its pressing representations for opening a negotiation with 
Russia, was the only motive for sending the Undersigned to 
Paris. The new instructions directed him to insist, that the 
said five articles, which had been agreed upon as the basis of 
tke negotiation, should receive their speedy execution. 


a 


By 






ii appendix. 

By these articles the two powers agreed that the King of 
the Two Sicilies, and the King of Sardinia, should be again 
put in possession of the respective states which they pos- 
sessed before the irruption of the French troops into Italy. 
Citizen Talleyrand, Minister for Foreign Affairs, has been 
authorized repeatedly to give the assurance, that the five arti¬ 
cles were agreed to, and that they would be carried into 
effect. 

As, however, it has been seen that by force of arms the 
King of Naples has been compelled to agree to other terms : 
and as, in defiance of the most solemn promises, to con¬ 
clude a definitive peace with the King of Sardinia, by which 
he was again to be established in his dominions, it is evident 
that the latter is excluded from his territories, there is every 
reason to suspect and believe, that unforeseen circumstances 
have changed the intentions of the French Government, and 
inspired it with other views and intentions repugnant to the 
above articles and measures which had been taken with his 
Majesty. 

The Undersigned is commanded to represent to Citizen 
Talleyrand, that without positive certainty of the five articles 
alluded to, being carried into effect, and which were ac¬ 
ceded to by the French Government as preliminaries, there 
can be no restoration of harmony between the two Coun¬ 
tries; and he therefore declares, that neither the Armistice of 
Foligno, nor the conditions which in the first instance were 
presented to the Marquis de Gallo, and which afterwards, on 
the refusal of the latter to agree to them, were transmitted 
to General Murat, to be signed by the Chevalier Micheroux, 
can ever be acknowledged by the Emperor, and that they 
must ever be considered as directly inconsistent with the pro¬ 
mises made by the Chief Consul, 

This is the substance of the commands which the 
Undersigned has received, and which he has been directed to 


communicate 


APPENDIX. ill 

communicate to the French Government. He must also 
add, that the views which the Chief Consul announced, and 
his moderation, which was held out as directed to promote 
a General Peace, were the only grounds on which all Europe 
entertained the hope that the moment of that peace was at 
no great distance ; that it would be permitted to look for¬ 
ward to the future with tranquillity; and that the system 
of robbery taken up by the Directory no longer existed. 
These were the only reasons that induced His Majesty the 
Emperor to send a Plenipotentiary to Paris, and through 
whom it was expected that the relations of amity with the 
French Government would be restored. 

The Undersigned flattered himself, that the Chief Consul, 
in his wisdom, would consider that his fame is concerned 
in fulfilling the promises he had made, and the hopes he had 
raised, as it will depend upon him, by the re-establishment 
of a General Peace, to give repose to all Europe. He there¬ 
fore requests Citizen Talleyrand to make known the con¬ 
tents of this Note to the Chief Consul, and, as soon as pos¬ 
sible, to communicate to the Undersigned the resolution 
which the French Government shall adopt. 

The Undersigned takes this opportunity, &c. 

(Signed) Kalitscheff* 

As no Answer zvas given to this Note , Count Kalits- 
cheff, on the 8 th of May, presented the following . 

The Undersigned reminds Citizen Talleyrand, that he 
Iws yet to receive an answer respecting the objects on which 
he had the honour, by the command of the Emperor, his 
master, to address him ; and therefore he begs him to notify 
to the Undersigned, whether the French Government, agree¬ 
ably to the admission of the five Preliminary Articles, intends 
to keep its promise concerning the integrity of the kingdom 
of the Two Sicilies, and the re-establishment of the King 
a a of 


IV 


appendix. 


of Sardinia i& his dominions, as they were previous to the 
arrival of the French troops in Italy. 

The Undersigned considers it unnecessary to make any 
farther observations respecting this affair, which has already 
been sufficiently discussed, and he hopes that Citizen I alley- 
rand will lay before the Chief Consul the contents of the pre¬ 
sent Note, and that he will communicate to him his reso¬ 
lutions agreeably thereto. 

(Signed) Kalitscheff"', 


B. 

CONVENTION OF ST. PETERSBURG!!, 

Between England and Russia, concluded, June 5th 
filth), 1801 . 

In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Tri¬ 
nity—The mutual desire of His Majesty the Emperor of 
all the Russias and of His Majesty the King of the 
United Kingdom of Great-Britain and Ireland, being 
not only come to an understanding between themselves 
with respect to the differences which have lately inter¬ 
rupted the good understanding and friendly relations 
which subsisted between the two States; but also to pre¬ 
vent, by frank and precise explanations upon the naviga- 


* \yith segard to thdse Articles which are not enumerated in the 
above Notes, it is believed that the first contained a positive assurance 
that the Pope should be maintained in his Temporal Dominion; the 
second, that the Grand Duke of Tuscany should be indemnified in 
Italy, and not in Germany; and the third, that the arrangements in 
consequence of the Treaty of Luneville should be made with the con¬ 
currence of Russia. 

tien 





APPENDIX, 


T 


tion of their respective subjects, the renewal of similar 
altercations and troubles which might be the consequence 
of them; and the object of the solicitude of their said 
Majesties being to settle, as soon as can be done, an 
equitable arrangement of those differences, and an rnvat- 
liable determination of their principles upon the rights of 
neutrality, in their application to their respective monar¬ 
chies, in order to unite more closely the ties of friendship 
and good intercourse, of which they acknowledge the 
utility and the benefits, have named and chosen for their 
Plenipotentiaries, viz. His Majesty the Emperor of all 
the Russias, the Sieur Niquita, Count de Panen, his 
Counsellor, &c. and His Majesty the King of the United 
Kingdom of Great-Britain and Ireland, Alleyn, Baron 
St. Helens, Privy Counsellor, &c. who, after having com¬ 
municated their full powers, and found them in good 
and due form, have agreed upon the following points and 
articles: 

Art. I. There shall be hereafter between His Impe¬ 
rial Majesty of all the Russias and His Britannic Majesty, 
their subjects, the 'states and countries under their 
domination, good and unalterable friendship and under¬ 
standing, and all the political, commercial, and other 
relations, of common utility between the respective sub¬ 
jects, shall subsist as formerly, without their being dis¬ 
turbed or troubled in any manner whatever. 

II. His Majesty the Emperor and His Britannic 
Majesty declare, that they will take the most especial care 
of the execution of the prohibitions against the trade of 
contraband of their subjects with the enemies of each of 
the High Contracting Parties, 

III. His Imperial Majesty of all the Russias and His 
Britannic Majesty having resolved to place under a suffi¬ 
cient safeguard the freedom of commerce and navigation 

of 


vi 


APPENDIX. 


of theft* subjects, in case one of them shall be at war, 
whilst the other shall be neuter, have agreed:— 

1. That the ships of the neutral power shall navi¬ 
gate freely to the ports, aiul upon the coasts of the na¬ 
tions at war. 

2. That the effects embarked on board neutral ships 
shall be free, with the exception of contraband of war, 
and of enemy’s property ; and it is agreed not to comprise 
in'the number of the latter, the merchandise of the pro¬ 
duce, growth, or manufacture of, the countries at war, 
which should have been acquired by the subjects of the 
neutral power, and should be transported for their ac¬ 
count, which merchandise cannot be accepted in any case 
from the freedom granted to the flag of the said power. 

3. That in order to avoid all equivocation and mis¬ 
understanding of what ought to be qualified as contraband 
of war, His Imperial Majesty of all the Russias and His 
Britannic Majesty declare, conformably to the nth Arti¬ 
cle of the Treaty of Commerce concluded between the two 
Crowns on the 10th (21st) February, 1797, that they 
acknowledge as such only the following objects, viz.— 
Cannons, mortars,. fire-arms, pistols, bombs,, grenades, 
balls, bullets, fire-locks, flints, matches, powder, salt¬ 
petre, sulphur, helmets, pikes, fwords, fword-belts, 
saddles and bridles: excepting, however, the quantity of 
the said articles which may be necessary for the defence 
of the ship and of those who compose the crew; and all 
other articles whatever not enumerated here shall not be 
refuted warlike and naval ammunition, nor be subject 
to confiscation, and of course shall pass freely, without 
being subjected to the smallest difficulty, unless they be 
considered enemy’s, property in the above settled sense. 
It is also agreed that that which is stipulated in the pre¬ 
sent article shall not be to the prejudice of the particular 
stipulations of one or the other Crown with other Powers, 

by 


appendix. 


vij 

by which objects of a similar kind should be reserved, 
prohibited, or permitted, 

4. That in order to determine what characterizes a 
blockaded port, that determination is given only to that 
where there is, by the disposition of the power which 
attacks it with ships stationary, or sufficiently near, ail 
evident danger in entering. 

5. That the ships of the neutral power shall not be 
stopped but upon just causes and evident facts : that 
they be tried without delay, and that the proceeding be 
always uniform, prompt, and legal. 

In order the better to ensure the respect due to these 
stipulations, dictated by the sincere desire of concili¬ 
ating all interests, and to give a new proof of their 
loyalty and love of justice, the High Contracting Parties 
enter here into the most formal engagement to renew the 
severest prohibitions to their Captains, whether of ships 
of war or merchantmen, to take, keep, or conceal on 
board their ships any of the objects which, in the terms 
of the present Convention, may be reputed contraband, 
and respectively to take care of the execution of the orders 
which they shall have published in their Admiralties, and 
wherever it shall be necessary. 

IV. The two High Contracting Parties, wishing to 
prevent all subject of dissension in future by limiting the 
right of search of merchant ships going under convoy to 
the sole causes in which the Belligerent Power may expe¬ 
rience a real prejudice by the abuse of the neutral flag, 
have agreed, 

1. That the right of searching merchant ships be¬ 
longing to the subjects of one of the Contracting 
Powers, and navigating under convoy of a ship of war 
of the faid Powers, shall only be exercised by ships of 
1 


war 


vm 


APPENDIX* 


war of the Belligerent Party, and shall never extend to 
the fitters out of privateers, or other vessels, which do 
not belong to the Imperial or Royal fleet of Their Ma¬ 
jesties, but which their subjects shall have fitted out for 
war. 

2. That the proprietors of all merchant ships be¬ 
longing to the subjects of one of the Contracting So¬ 
vereigns, which shall be destined to sail under convoy 
of a ship of war, shall be required, before they receive 
their sailing orders, to produce to the Commander of the 
Convoy their passports and certificates, or sea-letters, in 
the form annexed to the present treaty. 

3. That when such ship of war, and every merchant 
ship under convoy, shall be met with by a ship or ships 
of war of the other Contracting Party, who shall then be- 
in a state of war, in order to avoid all disorder, they shall 
keep out of cannon shot, unless the situation of the sea, 
or the place of meeting, render a nearer approach neces¬ 
sary ; and the Commander of the ship of the Belligerent 
Power shall send a sloop on board the convoy, where 
they shall proceed reciprocally to the verification of the 
papers and certificates that are to prove on one part, that 
the ship of war is authorized to take under its escort such 
or such merchant ships of its nation, laden with such a 
cargo, and for such a port: on the other part, that the 
ship of war of the Belligerent Party belongs to the Impe¬ 
rial or Royal fleet of Their Majesties. 

4. This verification made, there shall be no pretence 
for any search, if the papers are found in due forfn, and 
if there exists no good motive for suspicion. In the 
contrary case, the Captain of the neutral ship of Avar 
(being duly required thereto by the Captain of the ship 
of war or ships of war of the Belligerent Power) is to 
bring to, and detain his convoy during the time necessary 

for 


APPENDIX. 


IX 

for the search of the ships which compose it, and he 
shall have the faculty of naming and delegating one or 
more officers to assist at the search of the said ships, 
which shall be done in his presence on board each mer¬ 
chant ship conjointly with one or more officers selected 
by the Captain of the ship of the Belligerent Party, 

5. If it happen that the Captain of the ship or 
ships of war of the power of war, having examined the 
papers found on board, and having interrogated the mas¬ 
ter and crew of the ship, shall see just and sufficient rea¬ 
son to detain the merchant ship in order to proceed to an 
ulterior search, he shall notify that intention to the Cap¬ 
tain of the convoy, who shall have the power to order 
an officer to remain on board the ship thus detained, and 
to assist at the examination of the cause of her detention. 
The merchant ship shall be carried immediately to the 
nearest and most convenient port belonging to the Belli¬ 
gerent Power, and the ulterior search shall be carried 011 
with all possible diligence. 

V. It is also agreed, that if any merchant ship thus 
convoyed should be detained without just and sufficient 
cause, the commander of the ship or ships of war of the 
Belligerent Power shall not only be bound to make to the 
owners of the ship and of the cargo a full and perfect 
compensation for all the losses, expenses, damages, and 
costs, occasioned by such a detention, but shall further be 
liable to an ulterior punishment for every act of violence 
or other fault which he may have committed, according 
as the nature of the case may require. On the other hand, 
no ship of war with a convoy shall be permitted, under 
any pretext whatsoever, to resist by force the detention 
of a merchant ship or ships by the ship or ships of war of 
the Belligerent Power; an obligation to which the ctfm- 

b mandsr 


X APPENDIX. 

marider Of a ship of war with convoy is not bound to ob¬ 
serve towards privateers and their fitters out. 

VI. The High Contracting Powers shall give precise 
and efficacious orders that the sentences upon prizes made 
at sea shall be conformable with the rules of the most 
exact justice and equity; that they shall be given by 
judges above suspicion, and who shall not be interested 
m the matter. The Government of the respective States 
shall take care that the said sentences shall be promptly 
and duly executed, according to the forms prescribed. In 
case of the unfounded detention, or other contravention of 
the regulations stipulated by the present treaty, the owners 
of such a ship and cargo shall be allowed damages propor¬ 
tioned to the loss occasioned by such detention. The 
rules to observe for these damages, and for the case of 
unfounded detention, as also the principles to follow for 
the purpose of accelerating the process, shall be the matter 
of additional articles, which the Contracting Parties agree 
to settle between them, and which shall have the same 
force and validity as if they were inserted in the present 
act. For this effect, Their Imperial and Britannic Majes. 
ties mutually engaged to put their hand to the salutary 
work, which may serve for the completion of these stipu¬ 
lations, and to communicate to each other without delay 
the views which may be suggested to them by their equal 
solicitude to prevent the least grounds for dispute in fu¬ 
ture. 

VII. To obviate all the inconveniences which may 
arise from the bad faith of those who avail themselves of 
the flag of a nation without belonging to it, it is agreed 
to establish for an inviolable rule, that any vessel whatever 
to be considered as the property of the country the flag of 
which it carries, must have on board the Captain of the 

ship, 


APPENDIX 


ship* ar *d one half of the crew of the people of that coun¬ 
try, and the papers and passports in due and perfect form ; 
but every vessel which shall not observe this rule, and 
which shall infringe the ordinances published on that 
head, shall lose all rights to the protection of the Con¬ 
tracting Powers. 

VIII. The principles and measures adopted by the 
present act shall be alike applicable to all the maritime 
wars in which one of the two Powers may be engaged 
whilst the other remains neutral. These stipulations shall 
in consequence be regarded as permanent, and shall serve 
for a constant rule to the Contracting Powers in matters 
of commerce and navigation. 

IX. His Majesty the King of Denmark, and His 
Majesty the King of Sweden, shall be immediately in¬ 
vited by his Imperial Majesty, in the name of the two 
Contracting Parties, to accede to the present conven¬ 
tion, and at the same time to renew and confirm their 
respective treaties of commerce with His Britannic Ma¬ 
jesty; and his said Majesty engages, by acts which 
shall have established that agreement, to render and to 
restore to each of these Powers, all the prizes that have 
been taken from them, as well as the territories and 
countries under their domination, which have been con¬ 
quered by the arms of His Britannic Majesty since the 
rupture, in the state in which those possessions we:e 
found at the period at which the troops of His Britannic 
Majesty entered them. The orders of his said Majesty 
for the restitution of those prizes and conquests shall be 
immediately expedited after the exchange of the ratifi¬ 
cations of the acts by which Sweden and Denmark shall 
accede to the present treaty. 

b 2 


X. The 


APPENDIX® 


xii 

X. The present Convention shall be ratified by the 
two Contracting Parties, and the ratifications exchanged 
at St. Petersburgh in the space of two months at furthest, 
from the day of the signature. In faith of which the 
respective Plenipotentiaries have caused to be made two 
copies perfectly similar, signed with their hands, and 
have sealed with their arms. 

Done at St. Petersburgh, the 5th (17th) of June, i 3 oi. 

(L.S.) N.Count de Panen. 

(L.S.) St. Helens. 

Formula of the Passports and Sea Letters which ought to he 
delivered in the respective Admiralties of the States of the 
two High Contracting Parties to the Ships of JVar> and 
Merchant Vessels , which shall sail from them, conform - 
able to Article IV. of the present Treaty . 

Be it known that we have given leave and permis¬ 
sion to N—, of the city or place of N—, master or 
conductor of the ship N—, belonging to N—, of the 
port of N—, of —tons or thereabouts, now lying in the 
port or harbour of N—, to sail from thence to N—, laden 
with N—, on account of N—, after the said ship shall 
have been visited before its departure in the usual manner 
by the officers appointed for that purpose; and the said 
*1-, or such other as shall be vested with powers to re¬ 
place him, shall be obliged to produce in every port or 
harbour which he shall enter with the said vessel to the 
officers of the place the present license, and to carry the 
flag of N — during his voyage. - 

In faith of which, &c. 


Copy 




APPENDIX# 


xiii 

Copy of the 1 st separate Article of the Convention , with the 
Court of London , signed the qth (17 th) ofJune y 1801. 

The pure and magnanimous intentions of His Ma¬ 
jesty the Emperor of all the Russias having already induced 
him to restore the vessels and goods of British subjects, 
which had been sequestered in Russia, his said Majesty 
confirms that disposition in its whole extent; and His 
Britannic Majesty engages also to give immediately orders 
for taking ofF all sequestration laid upon the Russian, 
Danish, and Swedish properties, detained in English 
ports, and to prove still more his sincere desire to termi¬ 
nate amicably the differences which have arisen between 
Great-Britain and the Northern Courts; and in order 
that no new incident may throw obstacles in the way of 
this salutary work, His Britannic Majesty binds himself 
to give orders to the Commanders of his forces by land 
and sea, that the armistice now subsisting with the Courts 
of Denmark and Sweden shall be prolonged for a term of 
three months from the date of this day ; and His Majesty 
the Emperor of all the Russias, guided by the same mo¬ 
tives, undertakes, in the name of his Allies, to have this 
armistice maintained during the said term. 

This separate article, &c. 

In faith of which, &q# 

Copy of the 2 d separate Article of the Convention with the 
Court of London y signed at St. Petershurgh, the gth (17^) 
of June , 1801. 

The differences and misunderstandings which sub¬ 
sisted between His Majesty the Emperor of all the 

Russias 


XlV 


APPENDIX. 


Russias and His Majesty the King of the United King¬ 
dom of Great-Britain and Ireland being thus terminated, 
and the precautions taken by the present Convention 
not giving further room to fear that they may be able to 
disturb in future the harmony and good understanding 
which the two High Contracting Parties have at heart to 
consolidate, their said Majesties confirm anew, by the 
present Convention, the treaty of commerce of the 
ioth, (Feb. 21, 1797), of which all the stipulations 
are here repeated, to be maintained in their whole ex¬ 
tent. 

This separate article, &c. 

In faith of which, Sc c. 


c. 

TREATY OF BADAJOS. 

Treaty of Peace between Spain and Portugal , con^ 
eluded at Badajos , June 6th , 1801 . 

As the object which His Catholic Majesty had in 
view, and which he considered as necessary for the ge¬ 
neral good of Europe, when he declared war against 
Portugal is obtained, His Majesty has resolved, after 
conferences had, to restore and renew the bonds of 
friendship and good understanding by means of a treaty 
of peace; and the Plenipotentiaries of the three Belli¬ 
gerent Powers having met together have agreed to con¬ 
clude two treaties, which in their essential parts will be 

but 



appendix. 


but one, as the guarantee will be interchangeable, and 
will cease with respect to both when either shall be in¬ 
fringed. To carry into full effect this important object. 
His Catholic Majesty the King of Spain, and His Royal 
Highness the Prince of Portugal and Algarve, have 
granted their full powers as follows : namely, His Ca¬ 
tholic Majesty the King of Spain to His Excellency 1)011 
Emanuel de Godoy Alvanez de Faria, Rios Sanchez y 
Tarzosa, Prince of Peace, Duke of Alcudia, Lord ©f 
Soto di Roma and of the districts of Albala, Count of 
Everamonte, Grandee of Spain of the first class, per¬ 
petual Governor of the city of Madrid, and of the towns 
of Santiago, Cadiz, Malaga, and Ecija, Knight of the 
illustrious Order of the Golden Fleece ; Grand Cross of 
the distinguished Spanish Order of Charles III. Com¬ 
mander of Valencias del Ventoso, Rivera, &c. Grand 
Cross of the Order of St. John, Counsellor of State, 
Chamberlain, Generalissimo, and Captain-General ot 
the Armies of His Catholic Majesty, and Colonel-Ge¬ 
neral of the Swiss Troops, &c.—and His Royal Highness 
the Prince Regent of Portugal and Algarve to His Excel¬ 
lency Louis Pinto de Sousa, Continto, Counsellor of 
State, Grand Cross of the Order of Avez, Knight of the 
illustrious Order of the Golden fleece, Minister, and 
Secretary of State for the Affairs of the Kingdom, and 
Lieutenant-General of its Armies, who after having ex¬ 
changed and verified their full powers in good and proper 
form, have concluded and signed, according to the orders 
and intentions of their Sovereigns, the following ar¬ 
ticles :— 

Article I. There shall be peace, amity and good 
understanding between His Catholic Majesty the King of 

Spain, and the Prince Regent of Portugal and Algarve, 

as 


XVI 


APPENDIX. 


as well by sea as tend, through the whole extent of their 
kingdoms and possessions; and all captures which shall ^ 
be made by sea after the ratification of the present treaty, 
shall be faithfully restored with all their goods and effects 
or their respective values paid. 

Article II. His Royal Highness will shut the ports 
of his whole territories to the ships of Great-Britain in 
general. 

Article III. His Catholic Majesty will restore to His 
Royal Highness the fortresses and places of Junemena, 
Arronchis, Portaligre, Castel, Davide, Barbauma, Campo 
Mayor, and Auguela, with all the territories hitherto 
conquered, by his arms, or which may hereafter be con¬ 
quered, with all their artillery, fire-arms, or other warlike 
stores; and in the same condition in which they were 
when surrendered to him. And His Catholic Majesty 
will take, as a conquest, the fortress of Olivenza, with its 
territory and inhabitants, from the Guadiana, and unite 
the same for ever to his own territory and subjects; so 
that the river above-mentioned, shall be the boundary of 
the respective kingdoms in that part. 

Article IV. His Royal Highness the Prince Regent 
of Portugal and Algarve will not permit any depots of 
prohibited and contraband goods, which may be prejudi¬ 
cial to the interests of the Crown of Spain, to be formed 
on the frontiers of his kingdom, exclusive of such as ap¬ 
pertain to the revenues of the Crown of Portugal, or are 
necessary for the consumption of the respective territories 
in which they are established. And if this or any other 
article shall not be maintained, the Treaty which is now 
concluded between the three Powers, including the inter¬ 
changeable guarantee, shall be null and void, as is ex¬ 
pressed in the articles of the present Treaty. 


Article 


APPENDIX. 


XVII 


Article V. His Royal Highness will immediately 
repair and make good all damages or injury which the 
subjects of His Catholic Majesty may have sustained, 
during the present war, from the ships of Great-Britain, 
or the subjects of the Court of Portugal, and for 
which they can rightfully claim indemnification ; and in 
like manner His Catholic Majesty engages to make suit¬ 
able satisfaction for all captures which may have been 
made by the Spaniards before the present war, in viola¬ 
tion of, or within a cannon-shot of the Portuguese ter¬ 
ritory. 

Article VI. Within the space of three months, 
reckoning from the ratification of the present treaty, His 
Royal 'Highness will pay to the treasury of His Catholic 
Majesty the expenses left unpaid when they withdrew 
from the war with France, and which were occasioned by 
the same, according to the estimate given in by the Am¬ 
bassador of His Catholic Majesty, or which may be 
given in anew, with the exception, however, of any 
errors that may be found in the said estimates. 

Article VII. As soon as the present treaty shall be 
signed, all hostilities. shall cease on both sides, within 
twenty-four hours, without any contributions or requi¬ 
sitions being laid, after that time? on any of the con¬ 
quered places, except such as may be allowed to friendly 
troops in time of peace ; and as soon as this treaty shall 
be ratified, the Spanish troops shall leave the Portuguese 
territory within six days, and shall begin their march 
within six hours after receiving notice, without offering 
any violence or injury to the inhabitants in their way, 
and they shall pay for whatever may be necessary for them, 
according to the current price of the country. 

Article VIII. All prisoners which may have been 
taken by sea or land, shall within fifteen days after the rati- 
q fication 


xviii 


APPENDIX. 


fication of the present treaty, be set at liberty and deli¬ 
vered up on both sides; and at the fame time all debts 
which they may have contracted during their imprison¬ 
ment shall be paid. 

The sick and wounded shall remain in the respective 
hospitals, there to be taken care of, and in like manner 
delivered up as soon as they shall be able to begin their 
march. 

Article IX. His Catholic Majesty engages to gua¬ 
rantee to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent of Por^ 
tugal the entire possession of all his states and possessions, 
without the least exception or reserve. 

Article X. The two high Contracting Parties engage 
to renew the treaty of defensive alliance which existed 
between the two Monarchies, but with such clauses and 
alterations as the connexions entered into by the Spanish 
Monarchy which the French Republic may demand ; and 
in the same treaty shall be regulated what aid shall be 
mutually afforded, should necessity require. 

Article XI. The present treaty shall be ratified 
within ten days after it is-signed, or sooner, if possible. 
In witness of this, we, the undersigned Ministers Pleni¬ 
potentiary, have subscribed the present treaty with our 
own hands, and sealed it with our arms. 

Done at Badajoz, June 6, 1801. 

(L. S.) The Prince of Peace. 

(L. S.) Louis Pinto di Souza. 


APPENDIX. 


xix 


D. 

TREATY OF DOWNING-STREET. 

Preliminary Articles of Peace between England and 
France , signed at London, October l, 1801 . 

The First Consul of the French Republic, in the 
name of the French Republic, and His Majesty the King 
of the United Kingdoms of Great-Britain and Ireland, 
animated by an equal desire to put a stop to the calamities 
of a destructive war, and to re-establish between the two 
nations friendship and good understanding ; for this pur¬ 
pose have named as follows:—That is to say, The First 
Consul of the French Republic, in the name of the French 
people, Citizen Louis William Otto, Commissary for 
the Exchange of Prisoners in England ;^and His Majesty 
the King of England, Robert Banks Jenkinson, Lord 
Hawkesbury, Privy Counsellor of the King of Great- 
Britain, and Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Af¬ 
fairs—who have agreed upon the following Preliminary 
Articles - 

Art. I. As soon as the Preliminaries shall be signed 
and ratified, sincere friendship shall be established be¬ 
tween the French Republic and His Britannic Majesty by 
sea and land, in all parts of the world. In order that all 
hostilities may cease between the two Powers and their 
respective Allies, orders shall be dispatched to the land 
and sea forces with the utmost celerity, each of the Con¬ 
tracting Parties engaging to give passports and every other 
facility for the expedition of such orders and their exe- 
c 2 cation* 



XX 


APPENDIX* 


cution. It is further agreed* that all conquest which 
may have taken place on either side, or on the side of 
their respective allies, after the ratification of these preli¬ 
minaries, shall be considered as nothing, and faithfully 
restored after the arrangement of the Definitive Treaty. 

II. His Britannic Majesty will restore to the French 
Republic and her Allies, that is to say, His Catholic Ma¬ 
jesty and the Batavian Republic, all their possessions and 
colonies conquered by the English forces in the course of 
the actual war, excepting the Island of Trinidad, and the 
Dutch possessions in Ceylon, of which possessions His 

■ Britannic Majesty reserves the full and entire sovereignty. 

III. The Cape of Good Hope shall be open to the 
navigation and commerce of the two Contracting Powers, 
who shall each enjoy the same privileges. 

IV. The island of Malta and its dependencies shall 
be evacuated by the English troops, and shall be restored 
to the order of St. John of Jerusalem. To ensure the 
independence of the island from both the Contracting 
Powers, it shall be put under the guardianship and pro¬ 
tection of a third Power to be named by the Definitive 
Treaty. 

V. Egypt shall be restored to the Sublime Porte, 
whose dominions and possessions shall be secured in their 
integrity, such as they were before the war. 

VI. The territories and possessions of his most 
Faithful Majesty shall also be maintained in their inte¬ 
grity. 

VII. The French troops shall evacuate the kingdom 
of Naples and the Roman States. The English forces 
shall also evacuate Porto-Ferrajo, and all the Ports and 
Isles which they hold in the Mediterranean or in the 
Adriatic. 


VIII. Tire 


APPENDIX, 


xxi 


VIII. The Republic of the Seven Isles shall be ac¬ 
knowledged by the French Republic. 

IX. The evacuations, cessions, and restitutions, 
stipulated by the present Preliminary Articles, shall be 
executed in Europe within the month ; for the Continent 
and Seas of America, and of Africa, in three months; 
for the Continent and Seas of Asia in six months, which 
shall follow the Definitive Treaty. 

X. The respective prisoners shall, after the exchange 
of ratifications of the Definitive Treaty, be exchanged en 
masse, and without ransom, each side paying the private 
debts, which they have contracted. 

Some discussions having arisen respecting the pay¬ 
ment of the maintenance of prisoners of war, the Con¬ 
tracting Powers reserve it for the Definitive Treaty to 
settle this question, according to the law and usages of 
nations. 

XI. To prevent every subject of complaint and dis¬ 
pute which may arise respecting prizes made at sea, after 
the signature of the Preliminary Articles, it is reciprocally 
agreed that the vessels and effects, which may be captured 
in the Channel and in the North Seas for twelve days 
after the exchange of the Ratifications of these Prelimi¬ 
nary Articles, shall be restored on both sides. That the 
term shall be one month from the North Seas and the 
Channel to the Canary Isles inclusively, whether on-the 
Ocean or in the Mediterranean; two months from the 
said Isles to the Equator, and, in conclusion, five 
months for all other parts of the world, without any ex¬ 
ception or distinction for other parts of the world. 

XII. All the sequestrations on one side and the 
other, in the funds, revenues, and audits, cf whatever 
nature, belonging to either of the Contracting Parties, or 
their subje&s, shall immediately after the signature of 

the 


APPENDIX. 


Xxii 

the Treaty be taken off.—The decision of all demands 
between the individuals of the two nations, for debts, 
property, rights, of whatever nature, conformably to the 
usages established by the laws of nations, ought to be de¬ 
manded at the period of Peace, and shall be referred to 
competent tribunals. It is agreed that the present article 
shall, immediately after the ratification of the Definitive 
Treaty, be applied by the Contracting Powers to the re¬ 
spective Allies of the two nations, under the condition of 
a just reciprocity. 

XIII. With respect to the fisheries on the Banks of 
Newfoundland, and on the Isles adjacent to the Coasts of 
St. Laurence, the two Powers have agreed that they shall 
remain as they were before the actual war, reserving to 
themselves the right of making, by the Definitive Treaty, 
such arrangements as may appear just, and reciprocally 
useful, to put the fishery in a condition to preclude fu¬ 
ture contention. 

XIV. In every case of restitution agreed upon by 
the present Treaty, the fortifications shall be in the same 
state as they were at the moment of actual signing ; and 
all the works constructed since the occupation of the 
places shall remain untouched. 

It is further agreed, that in every case of cession 
stipulated by the present 7 'reaty, there shall be allowed to 
every inhabitant, of whatever nation, or condition, a 
term of three years, to be reckoned from the notification 
of the Definitive Treaty, to dispose of their property, 
whether acquired before or during the war; during which , 
term of three years, they shall have full liberty to exercise 
their religion, and enjoy their property. 

The same advantages are granted to the restored 
countries, and all those who have formed there any esta-^ 
blishmeats during the time these countries were in the 

possession 


APPENDIX. xxiii 

possession of Great-Britain. As to the other inhabitants 
of the ceded or restored countries, it is agreed that no one 
shall be molested, or pursued, either in his person or 
property, under any pretext whatever, either for his 
political conduct, or for his attachment to either of 
the Contracting Parties, or for any other reason. If 
it is not for debt, owing to another individual, or for 
acts posterior to the Definitive Treaty. 

XV. The present Preliminary Articles shall be rati¬ 
fied, and the ratifications exchanged at London within 
fifteen days at the farthest, and immediately after their 
ratification, Plenipotentiaries shall be named on both 
sides, who shall proceed to Amiens, to adjust the Defini¬ 
tive Treaty, in conceit with the Allies of the Contracting 
Powers. 

In testimony of which, we the undersigned, Plenipo. 
tentiaries of His Britannic Majesty, and of the First Con¬ 
sul of the French Republic, in virtue of our respective 
powers, have signed the present Preliminary Articles, and 
have thereto put our seals. 

Executed at London, the 9th Vendemiaire (1st 
Oct.) iothyear of the French Republic (1801.) 

,, ( Otto. 

^i&nc j Hawkesbury.* 


* It is to be observed that the Treaty reached us through the pa¬ 
pers of Paris, where Buonaparte had the modesty to publish it, before it 
was ratiSed by our Government. A faithful translation, therefore, has 
here given Otto the precedence of Hawkesbury, which, indeed, is a 
matter of no great importance; but to see- Vendemiaire take the lead of 
^October , and Buonaparte of George the Third, extorts a curse in spite of 
philosophy and religion* 


E, 




XXIV 


APPENDIX. 


E. 

TREATY OF PARIS. 

Treaty of Peace between France and Russia , con¬ 
cluded at Paris , October 8 th, 1801. 

The First Consul of the French Republic, in the 
name of the French people and His Majesty the Em¬ 
peror of all the Russias, animated with the desire of re¬ 
establishing the relation of good understanding which 
subsisted between the two Governments before the pre¬ 
sent war, and to put an end to the evils with which 
Europe is afflicted, have appointed for that purpose for 
their Plenipotentiaries, viz. 

The First Consul of the French Republic, in the 
name of the French People, Citizen Charles Maurice 
Talleyrand, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and His Ma¬ 
jesty the Emperor of all the Russias, the Sieur Arcadi* 
Count de Marcoff, his Privy Counsellor, and Knight 
of the Order of St. Alexander Neuski, and Grand 
Cross of that of St. Wlademir of the first Class, who, 
after the verification and exchange of their full powers, 
have agreed upon the following Articles :— 

Art. I. There shall be in future, peace, friend¬ 
ship, and good understanding, between the French 
Republic and His Majesty the Emperor of all the 
Russias. 

II. In consequence, there shall not be committed 
any hostility between the two States, reckoning from 
the day of the exchange of the Ratifications of the pre¬ 
sent Treaty; and neither of the Contracting Parties 
2 shall 


APPENDIX. 


XXV 


shall furnish to the enemies of the other, internal as 
well as external, any succour, or contingent, in men or 
money, under any denomination whatever. 

III. i he two Contracting Parties wishing, as much 
as is in their power, to contribute to the tranquillity 
of the respective Governments, promise mutually not to 
suffer any of their subjects to keep up any correspondence, 
direct or indirect, with the internal enemies of the present 
Government of the two States, to propagate in them 
principles contrary to their respective Constitutions, or 
to foment troubles in them ; and as a consequence of this 
concert every subject of one of the two Powers, who, 
during his residence in the States of the other, shall make 
any attack upon its security, shall immediately be removed 
out of the said country, and carried beyond the frontiers 
without being able, in any case, to claim the protection 
of his Government. 

IV. It is agreed to adhere, with respect to the re¬ 
establishment of the respective Legations, and the cere¬ 
monies to be followed by the two Governments, to that 
which was in use before the present war. 

V. The two Contracting Parties agree, till a new 
treaty of commerce be made, to re-establish the commer¬ 
cial relations between the two countries on the footing in 
which they were before the war, as far as possible, and 
with the exception of the modifications which time and 
circumstances may have produced, and which have given 
rise to new regulations. 

VI. The present Treaty is declared to be common 
to the Batavian Republic. 

VII. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the 
ratifications exchanged in the space of fifty days, or sooner 
if possible. 

In 


d 


xxvi 


APPENDIX. 


In faith of which we, the undersigned, in virtue 
of our full powers, have signed and sealed the said 
Treaty. 

Done at Paris, the 16th Vendemiaire, loth year of 
the French Republic (8th October, i8oj). 

Ch. M. Talleyrand. 

The Count De Markoff. 


f. 

TREATY OF PARIS. 

Preliminary Treaty of Peace between France and 
the Ottoman Porte, signed at Paris, 9th October , 
1801 . 

The First Consul of the French Republic, in the 
name of the French People, and the Sublime Ottoman 
Porte, wishing to put a stop to the war which divides the 
two States, and to re-establish the ancient connection 
which united the two nations, have, with this view, ap¬ 
pointed the undermentioned Plenipotentiaries, viz. 

The First Consul of the French Republic, in the 
name of the French People, has appointed Citizen 
Charles Maurice Talleyrand, Minister of Foreign Affairs ; 
and the Sublime Ottoman Porte its late Basch-Muhassebe 
and Ambassador, Essyd-Aly-Effendi, who, after having 
exchanged their full powers, have agreed to the following 
Articles: 4 

. Art. I. 



APPENDIX. 


xxvii 


Art. I. There shall be peace and friendship between 
the French Republic and the Sublime Ottoman Porte, in 
consequence of which hostilities shall cease between the 
two Powers, from the date of the exchange of the ratifi¬ 
cations of the present Preliminary Articles; immediately 
after which exchange, the entire province of Egypt shall 
be evacuated by the French army, and restored to the 
Sublime Porte, the territory and possessions of which 
shall be maintained in their integrality, as they were be¬ 
fore the present war. 

It is understood that after the evacuation of Egypt 
the concessions which may be made in that Country to 
other Powers, on the part <yf the Sublime Porte shall also 
be common to the French. 

II. The French Republic acknowledges the Consti¬ 
tution of the Republic of the Seven United Isles and the 
Ex-Venetian Countries situated on the Continent. It 
guarantees the maintenance of the Constitution. The 
Sublime Ottoman Porte acknowledges and accepts to that 
effect the guarantee of the French Republic as well as that 
of Russia. 

III. Definitive arrangements will be made between 
the French Republic and the Sublime Ottoman Porte, 
relative to the property of the respective citizens and 
subjects which may have been confiscated or sequestrated 
during the war. The political and commercial agents, 
and the prisoners of war of every degree, shall be set at 
liberty immediately after the Ratification of the- present 
Preliminary Articles. 

IV. The Treaties, which existed before the present 
war between France and the Sublime Porte, are all re¬ 
newed. In consequence of this renewal, the French Re¬ 
public will enjoy, throughout the whole extent of the 
States of His Highness, the rights of commerce and navi- 

d 2 gation 


xxviii 


APPENDIX. 


gation as formerly, and with the same immunities as 
will in future be enjoyed by the most favoured nations. 

The ratifications will be exchanged at Paris in the 
space of eight days. 

Done at Paris the 9th of October, in the 10th year 
of the Republic, or the 1st of the month Gemasy-ul Ahir, 
in the year one thousand two hundred and sixteen of the 
Hegira. 

(Signed) Ch. M. Talleyrand. 

Esseyd, Aly-Effendi* 


G. 

TREATY OF MADRID. 

Treaty of Peace between France and Portugal, ex¬ 
cluded at Madrid, September 29th, 1801. 

The First Consul of the French Republic, in the name 
of the French People, and the Prince Regent of the kingdom 
of Portugal, equally desirous of restoring the connections 
of amity and commerce which subsisted between the two 
states before the war, have resolved to conclude a peace by 
the mediation of His Catholic Majesty, and have appointed as 
their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say, on the part of the 
French Republic, Citizen Lucien Buonaparte, and on the 
part of Portugal, His Excellency M. Cypriano Bibiero Frcire, 
Commander of the Order of Christ, one of the Privy Council 
of His Royal Highness, and his Minister Plenipotentiary to 
the King of Spain. The Plenipotentiaries having exchanged 
their full powers, agreed to the following articles: 


Art. I, 



APPENDIX. 


XXIX 


Art. I. There shall always in future, be peace, amity, and 
good understanding between the French Republic and the king¬ 
dom of Portugal. All hostilities shall cease, by land and sea, on 
the Ratification of the present Treaty, viz. In 15 days, on 
the seas near its coasts, and those of Africa 1 ; in 40 days from 
the Ratification, hostilities shall cease, by land and sea, in 
America and Africa, beyond the Equator; and in three months 
after for the countries and seas to the west of Cape Horn* 
and to the east of the Cape of Good Hope. All the prizes 
made after any of these periods shall be restored. The pri¬ 
soners of war taken on either side shall be restored, and the 
political connections between the two countries shall be put 
upon the same footing as they were before the war. 

II. All the ports and roads of Portugal, in Europe, 
shall be shut against all English vessels of war and of com¬ 
merce, and shall remain so till the conclusion of Peace be¬ 
tween England and France; but the ports, &c. shall be 
open to the vessels of the French Republic and her Allies. 
As to the ports, &c. of Portugal in the other parts of the 
world, the present Article is to be obligatory in the terms 
fixed for the cessation of hostilities. 

III. Portugal engages not to furnish, during the course 
of the present War, to the enemies of the French Republic, 
and her allies, any assistance in arms, vessels, troops, am¬ 
munition, provisions, or money, under any denomination or 
pretence whatsoever. All prior acts, engagements, or con¬ 
ventions which are contrary to the present Article, are to be 
regarded as null and of no effect. 

IV. The limits between the two Guianas (French and 
Portuguese), shall, in future, be determined by the river 
Carapanatuba, which' falls into the river Amazons, at 
about a third of a degree to the North of the Equator, above 
Fort ATacapa. These limits are to follow the course of the 
river up to its source, whence they shall turn towards the great 

chain 


XXX 


APPENDIX 


chain of mountains, which divide the rivers. They shall then 
follow the windings of the chain, to the point where it comes 
the nearest to Rio-Branco, about two degrees and one-third 
north of the Equator*. 

The Indians of the two Guianas, who, during the war, 
have been carried from their habitations, shall be mutually 
restored. • 

The citizens and subjects of the two Powers, who are 
comprized in the new demarkation of limits, may retire 
into the territories of their respective States. They are also 
to be allowed to dispose of their property, real or personal, 
within two years after the exchange of the Ratifications of 
tiie present Treaty. 

V. A Treaty of Commerce shall be negotiated be¬ 
tween the tw’O Powers, to establish in a definitive manner 
the commercial relations between France and Portugal: in 
the mean time it is agreed upon. 

First, That the communications shall be re-estab¬ 
lished immediately after the exchange of the Ratification, 
and that the Agents and Factors of Commerce shall, on 
each side, be restored to the possession of the rights, immu¬ 
nities, and prerogatives which they enjoyed before the War. 


* This clause being of very great importance, it may not be amiss 
to subjoin it here in French, in order to show, that the translation is 
faithful. 

“ Les limites entre Ies deux Guyanes Frangaise et Portugaise, 
** seront determinees a l’avenir par la riviere Carapanatuba qui se }ette 
a dans l’Ama^ione a environ un tiers de degre de i’equateur, latitude 
** septentrionale, au-dessus du fort Macapa. Ces limites suivront le 
** cours de la riviere jusqu’a sa source, d’oti elles se porteront vers la 
t( grande chalne de montagnes, qui fait le partage des eaux; elles 
t( suivront les inflections de cette chaine jusqu’au point ou elle se 
u rapproche le plus du Rio-Branco vets le deuxieme degre et un tiers 
** nord de l’equateur.” 


Secondly, 



APPENDIX. 


XXXI 


Secondly, That the citizens and subjects of the two 
Powers shall equally and reciprocally enjoy in the States of 
both, all the rights which those of the most favoured nations 
enjoy. 

Thirdly, That the commodities and merchandize pro¬ 
duced from the soil or manufacture of each of the two Powers, 
shall be admitted reciprocally without restriction, and without 
being liable to any duty which would not equally affect the 
commodities and merchandize of a similar nature imported by 
other Nations. 

Fourthly, That the French cloths may be immediately- 
imported into Portugal, on the footing of the most favoured 
merchandize. 

Fifthly, That in other points all the stipulations inserted 
in the preceding Articles, and not contrary to the present 
Treaty, shall be provisionally executed until the conclusion 
of the Treaty of Definitive Commerce. 

Sixthly, The Ratification of the present Treaty shall 
be exchanged at Madrid within the term of twenty days at 
farthest. 

Executed in duplicate the 7 th Vendemiaire, in the iotk 
year of the French Republic, (29th September, 1801). 

(Signed) Lucien Buonaparte. 

Cypriano Eibiero Freire* 


H, 


Appendix. 


xxxii 


H. 

MINISTERIAL DECLARATIONS, 

Respecting the Treaty between France and Portugal, 
signed at Madrid, 29 th September, 1801 . 

The following articles are taken from the debates of 
the Morning Chronicle and the True Briton. —Either might 
have been sufficient, but if the reader find them to agree 
in the report of a speech, he will, doubtless, regard that 
agreement as an indubitable proof of their correctness. 
1 have therefore given the part of each day’s debate, to 
which I wish to direct the reader’s attention, from both 
of these papers. I w T ould recommend the reading of all 
the extracts, on the subject, without which it is impos¬ 
sible to form a correct opinion with respect to it. 


Extract from the Debates in the House of Commons, on 
the Tpth of October , 1801. 

From the Morning Chronicle. 

MR. GREY rose and said, that he did not mean to 
object to the day which the noble Lord had proposed for 
the discussion of the preliminaries, but he thought that 
there were a few points, the clearing up of which would 
greatly assist the deliberations of the House on this sub¬ 
ject, Though the preliminaries had now, for the first 
time, been put officially in the possession of the House, 

yet 




APPENDIX* xxxiii 

yet, as they were long since so well known to the public, 
he did not see that any question about a specific article 
could properly be considered as irregular. If, however, 
the noble Lord should think that he could not answer any 
such question without violating his public duty, or injur¬ 
ing his interests of the country, it was the farthest thing 
in the world from his wish to require an answer to such 
an inquiry. Laying down this distinction, therefore, he 
did not conceive that, by now asking one or two ques¬ 
tions of the noble Lord, he could be accused of any im¬ 
propriety or irregularity of conduct. By one of the pre¬ 
liminaries of peace the integrity of the dominions of the 
£>ueen of Portugal was positively guaranteed. What he 
wished to know was, what was meant by the integrity , 
provided for by the article in question? Whether was it, 
he desired to be informe 1, the present integrity, as it 
stood after a treaty with Spain, by which a whole pro¬ 
vince was expressly ceded, or was it the full and unai- 
minished integrity of the dominions of our Ally, as they 
existed before that treaty was formed? This was a ques¬ 
tion, the answer to which he viewed as of high moment 
in forming a fair opinion of the nature of the peace; but 
he would repeat, that if the noble Lord could give him 
any reasons to believe that the answer could not be made 
consistently with the duty he owed to the public, he 
would he far from pressing the subject. Passing from 
this point, the Honourable Member proceeded to touch 
on another subject, a* explanation of which, though it 
did not immediately rise out of the preliminaries, would 
be of great utility in enabling the House to come to a 
final decision on the character of the peace. It could 
not, he imagined, have escaped the attention of those 
employed in the negotiation of that peace, on which he 
for one sincerely and heartily congratulated the country; 

ij 


e 


XXXIV APPENDIX. 

it could not, be believed, have escaped the knowledge of 
any man at all accustomed to public affairs, that a short 
time previous to the signature of the preliminaries, a 
treaty of peace was concluded betwixt the kingdom of 
Portugal and the French Republic.—One article of this 
treaty, we saw from the public statements given of it, was 
this : that the goods of France should be introduced into 
the markets of Portugal, with every advantage and privi¬ 
lege formerly extended to the most favoured nations. He 
wished to know whether such an article was known to 
Ministers, or whether they had got satisfactory assurances 
that our relations with Portugal would be maintained on 
the same footing as-before the conclusion of this treaty. 
Such an article, he contended, would be contrary to all the 
express treaties betwixt this country and Portugal formed in 
the last century, and would in fact virtually abrogate its stipu¬ 
lations. Were Ministers then aware of this, or had they received 
assurances that no former commercial arrangements betwixt 
this country and Portugal were to undergo any material 
change ? With regard to the expediency of forming new 
commercial arrangements in the present circumstances of 
Europe, and of establishing a new system, of mercantile po¬ 
licy in the intercourse of states, he chose not to hazard an 
opinion. Perhaps it was absolutely necessary to intioduce 
some new regulation, but if, such an article as the one he had 
alluded to were carried into effect; if France were to be ah- 
lowed to sell her goods in the markets of Portugal with every 
advantage previously peculiar to this country, a most material 
change would be introduced into our commercial system, a 
change which would become a most important object of con¬ 
sideration in the discussion of the terms of peace. An expla¬ 
nation of the two points which he had thus stated he consi¬ 
dered to be extremely essential in determining his vote for the 
ratification of the preliminaries, as probably he should.vote 

for 


APPENDIX. 


XXXV 


for this ratification. For though he could not shut his eyes 
to the situation in which such a peace would leave this coun¬ 
try, though lie clearly saw that this situation would be one 
of unequalled difficulty and danger, yet, instructed as he was 
in the state of this country, of France, and of Europe at 
large, if a better peace could not be obtained, or if even a 
worse peace had been concluded, still, firmly convinced as 
he was that the farther prosecution of the war was far more 
dangerous than any which such a peace could present, he 
should have given it his support. 

LORD HAWKESBURY thought that the questions 
proposed were unusual and irregular, and therefore he de¬ 
clined 'at present to enter into any explanation. When the 
subject came regularly before the House, he should be happy 
to afford every possible explanation which could facilitate the 
discussion, but such an explanation in the present stage he ap¬ 
prehended would be inconsistent with his public duty. 


From the True-Briton. 

MR. GREY said, he did not rise to object to the motion 
which the Noble Lord had made, but perhaps no incove- 
nience could arise from his asking an explanation upon one 
or two points; and if he was fortunate enough to obtain an 
answer, it might assist the House very much when they en¬ 
tered into the consideration of the Preliminaries. It was 
true that the Preliminaries had only just been laid upon the 
Table, and, therefore, in point of form, he could not be 
supposed to be acquainted with their contents; but it was also 
notorious, that they had been published in the public papers, 
and were known to every man in the country. In looking 
over these preliminaries, there were two points which ap« 
e 2 peared 


xxxvi 


APfENDIX, 


peared to him to require explanation ; however, if the Noble 
JLord was of opinion that it would be improper, or inconver 
nient, to answer his questions, he should not press them. 
The first point was this : there was an article in the Preli¬ 
minary Articles, by which we stipulated for the integrity of 
the dominions of Portugal; he wished to know, whether by 
that article was to be understood the territories of Portugal as 
they stand now, after the cessions which had been made to 
Spain, or whether it meant those territories as they stood be¬ 
fore the commencement of hostilities. It appeared to him, 
that no inconvenience could arise from giving an explanation 
upon this point, and therefore he hoped the Noble Lord 
would answer'his question. The next subject was one 
which he confessed did not arise out of the Preliminaries, 
but yet it appeared to him to be of the greatest importance, 
and to require explanation. It could not have escaped the 
attention of those who took an interest in the great event 
which had so recently happened (and upon which he con- , 
gratulated the country), it could not, lie said, have escaped 
their attention, that about the time, or a little previous to 
the signing of the Preliminaries between this country and 
France, there was a Treaty of Peace signed between Portu- 4 
gal and France. In the body of that treaty, he observed a 
stipulation which he wished to know whether Ministers had 
information of, or whether they had received any satisfaction 
from France about, he meant an Article by which it was sti¬ 
pulated, that the manufactures of France wete to be admitted 
into Portugal upon the footing of those of the most favoured ■ 
nations. This stipulation appeared to him to be inconsistent 
with the Treaties of Commerce subsisting between this coun¬ 
try and France, and must give rise, on our part, to a new sys¬ 
tem of politics and commerce, and must make an alteration 
in the nature of our connection with Portugal. He wished 
so know whether Ministers were aware of this circumstance 

wheq 


3 


APPENDIX. 


xxxvii 


when they signed the Preliminaries of Peace. He admitted 
that the situation of Portugal, and indeed the situation of Eu¬ 
rope in general, was so changed, as to render it necessary, in 
some instances, to deviate from our old system with Portugal, 
and undoubtedly the stipulation to which he had alluded, 
would make a complete change in our commercial and poli¬ 
tical relations with that country, and therefore the explana¬ 
tion which he had required, appeared to him very important 
to enable them to discuss the Preliminaries fullyT If, how¬ 
ever, the Noble Lord should think it proper to decline giving 
that explanation, he should lament it, but should not press it 
further. The answer of the Noble Lord, if he should think 
it right to give it, would have a material effect upon the sa¬ 
tisfaction which (as at present informed) he felt at the peace. 
He could not shut his eyes to the dangers to which this coun¬ 
try would be exposed by this treaty, yet was now prepared to 
say, that if better terms could not be obtained, that, danger¬ 
ous as the situation of this country would now be, still that 
the danger of continuing the war would be greater, and there¬ 
fore he was of opinion, that Ministers were entitled to the 
gratitude of the country for having concluded this peace. He 
would not trouble the House any farther at present, but re¬ 
serve himself for the discussion of the Preliminaries, if he 
should then think it necessary to enter into the debate. 

LORD HAWKESBURY said, it was not from any 
unwillingness to answer the Hon. Gentleman that he now 
declined giving the explanation which he required, but he 
thought if he gave it now it might lead to a premature, and 
in some degree, irregular discussion of the subject; he there¬ 
fore wished to decline giving any further answer, until the 
day which should be appointed for taking the Preliminaries 
jnto consideration, on which occasion he should be happy to 


xxxviii 


APPEND IX. 


give every possible information that was not inconsistent with 
Ills public duty. 


Extract from the Debates in the House of Commons , gk 
the id of November , 1801. 

From the Morning Chronicle. 

MR. WHITBREAD rase and said, that as to-mor¬ 
row stood appointed by the Order of the House for taking 
into consideration, the Preliminaries of Peace with France, 
there was a point or two amongst those Preliminaries, of 
which, in order to the more clearly understanding their 
obje£ts, he wished to have explained by the Noble Lord 
opposite to him (Lord Hawkesbury). 

By one of the Preliminary Articles it is agreed that 
certain territories which heretofore belonged to Spain and 
Holland shall be ceded to England. He desired to know 
if this cession w ? as made by any person or authority di- 
re&ly on the parts of Spain and Holland ; or many other 
changes and difficulties, for which it was impossible for 
all the wisdom of those who suggested this, whether the 
cession rests merely on the authority of France ? 

LORD HAW KESBURY said, he had no objection 
to answer the Honourable Gentleman, that the compact j'ac¬ 
cession of the territories alluded to was directly with France . 
and it was upon the condition of those cessions only 
which others on the part of England were to be made. 

MR. WHITBREAD declared himself perfectly sa¬ 
tisfied on this point. 


wm 


A P P E N D I X. 


XXXIX 


LORD HAWKESBURY said, there was another 
point relative to which an explanation had been asked by an 
Honourable Gentleman on a former night: It was respect- 
mg the integrity of the Portuguese territory, as meant by the 
sixth Article of the Preliminaries . He had no objection to 
give, by way of explanation, an answer to that question 
now, of the official information concerning which the 
Officers of Government were not in possession till this 
day. 

By the integrity of the territories of Portugal, was 
meant such territories and possessions as her Faithful Ma¬ 
jesty possessed subsequent to the Treaty of Badajos. At 
that treaty her Faithful Majesty had agreed to cede to 
Spain the town and territory of Olivenza. In the subse¬ 
quent treaty with France, some change was agreed on in 
the boundaries between French and Portuguese Guiana ; 
but all cessions subsequent to the Treaty of Badajos were an - 
nulled by the Preliminaries with England. 

MR. GREY (to whose enquiry on a former night the 
Noble Lord alluded) said, that the Noble Lord had cer¬ 
tainly given an answer to one of his questions; but there 
was another of still more important moment which re¬ 
mained to be answered.—By the treaty of peace between 
France and Portugal it was expressly stipulated that the 
woollens of France should be admitted in Portugal upon 
the same footing as those of England had usually been; 
and he asked whether, in guaranteeing the integrity of 
the Portuguese territories, his Majesty’s Ministers had 
acceded to a principle so materially injurious to the com¬ 
mercial interests of this country ? 

LORD HAWKESBURYanswefed, that if Portugal 
had thought fit to enter into such a stipulation, it was surely 

competent 


APPENDIX. 


Xl 

competent for jthe Parliament of Great-Britain, if they 
chose , to form such regulations for admitting the wines 
of other countries in preference to those of Portugal, 
as would lead to arrangements amply to counterbalance 
any inconvenience from such a treaty on the part of Por¬ 
tugal. 


From the True-Briton. 

MR. WHITBREAD observed, it appeared by the 
Preliminary Treaty, that pertain cessions had been made 
to this country by Spain and Holland, or ratlidr that cer¬ 
tain territories were ceded on the part of those two 
powers: he therefore wished to know whether Spain 
and Holland had been made parties to the Treaty, and 
whether they had actually made those cessions to Great 
Britain. 

LORD HAWKESBURY said, he had no objection 
whatever to answer the question of the Honourable Gen¬ 
tleman. ‘The Preliminary Treaty was made only with 
France^ and no direct communication was had upon the sub - 
ject either with Spain or Holland. The cessions, however, 
made by Great-Britain in the Preliminary Treaty, were 
understood to be made as the condition of those cessions 
made on the part of Spain and Holland. 

MR. WHITBREADdeclared himself perfectly satis¬ 
fied, understanding, as he did, that Spain and Holland 
were not made parties to the Treaty. 

LORD HAW KESBURY assented. He would now, 
he said, answer a question proposed on a former evening by 

an 


an fionourable Gentleman (Mr. Grey), which he did not 
then answer on that evening, because his Majesty s Minis - 
ters were not in possession of sufficient information upon the 
subject. That Honourable Gentleman wished to know 
whether the integrity of Portugal, as guaranteed by the 
Preliminary Treaty, was to be considered as the integrity 
of that kingdom prior or subsequent to the Treaties made 
between that country and France and Spain. He could 
now inform that Honourable Gentleman, that the integrity 
of Portugal, as guaranteed by the Preliminary ‘Treaty , was 
the integrity of Portugal as settled by the Treaty of Badajos, 
between Spain and Portugal, whereby the district of Oli- 
venza was. ceded to the former, and the river Guadiana 
made the boundary of the latter. 

MR. GREY said, if he understood the Noble Lord 
rightly, the integrity of Portugal was to be so considered 
after the cession of the district of Olivenza to Spain by 
the Treaty of Badajos, and that any treaty made between 
France and Portugal since that period, was wholly out of the 
question y so far as it related to any cession of territory. —But 
the Noble Lord had taken no notice of another question 
which he asked', namely, whether that part of the treaty 
between France and Portugal whereby the manufactures 
of the former were to be admitted into the latter country 
on the footing of those of the most favoured natrons, was 
done away or not, by the Preliminary Treaty before the 
House. 

LORD FIAWKESBURYsaid, he wished to be clear¬ 
ly understood : at the period of the Treaty of Badajos, be¬ 
tween Spain and Portugal, there was also a treaty entered 
into between France and Portugal, the former was rati¬ 
fied, whilst the ratification of the latter was refused. It 

f was 


APPENDIX* 


xlii 

was understood that the Preliminary Treaty between this 
country and France, considered Portugal as subject to 
the articles of both those treaties, and that the treaty be~ 
tween France and Portugal was to be considered as equal in 
every respect to the Treaty of Badajos , between Spain and the 
latter kingdotn. With respect to the other question of the 
Honourable Gentleman, he was really at a loss what an¬ 
swer to return to it. Portugal might, if she pleased dur¬ 
ing a period of profound peace, consent to admit the 
woollen manufactures of France on the same footing as 
those of England; and Great-Britain might, in return, 
consent to admit the wines of other countries on the same 
terms as those of Portugal. This seemed to him to be 
a matter of regulation which had nothing strictly to do 
with the terms of the Preliminary Treaty, inasmuch as 
such kind of regulations might be made as well during a 
period of profound peace, as at any other time. 


Extracts from the Debates of the House of Commons , on 
the 4 th of November , l8oi. 

From the Morning Chronicle.' 

LORD TEMPLE requested to be informed, whe« 
ther Ministers were informed of the ratification of the 
treaty betwixt France and Portugal, as stated in the 
French official paper, and whether they had assurances that 
the f atification did not extend to any cessions made since the 
Treaty cf Badajos P 


LORD 



APPENDIX. xliii 

LORD HAWKESBURY said, that Ministers cer¬ 
tainly had no information of the ratification, except 
through the medium of the French papers; but he could 
assure the Noble Lord that the ratification did not extend to 
any joints of cession. 

From the True Briton. 

LORD TEMPLE said, he only wished to put a 
question to the Noble Secretary of State. It would be in 
the recollection of the House that the Noble Lord had 
stated, and he conceived himself perfectly in order in men¬ 
tioning it, that the treaty made between France and Portu¬ 
gal on the 2tyh of September last , was to be cancelled and 
abandoned , and that the Treaty of Badajos alone was to 
be adhered to with relation to the article of the Prelimi- 
naryTreaty which guaranteed the integrity of Portugal. 
It had been stated also in another place, which it would 
be irregular in him to comment upon, that by an arret of 
the First Consul, published officially, it appeared that the 
ratification of the Treaty of the 29th September had been 
received, and that by the arret, the First Consul seemed 
to act upon that treaty thus ratified, by ordering the res¬ 
titution of prizes, &c. He therefore wished to ask the 
Noble Lord, whether the ratification of that treaty did or 
did not make any alteration in that view of the subject:which 
had been warranted by the statement of the Noble Secretary of 
State . 

LORD HAWKESBURY said, in answer to the 
question of the Noble Lord, he had to observe, that his 
Majesty’s Ministers were not in possession of any offi¬ 
cial information relative to the ratification of the treaty 
f 2 alluded 


APPENDIX. 


xliv 

alluded to, and that they knew nothing further of the 
subject than what the Noble Lord, or any other indivi¬ 
dual, might be informed of through the medium of the 
French papers. The ratification of the treaty , however , of 
the 29 th September , could make no difference in the execution 
of the Article of the Preliminary Treaty relative to Portugal. 
The Noble Lord had stated, that the Treaty of the 29th 
September was to be cancelled and abandoned ; but it 
should be remembered, that his (Lord Hawkesbury’s) 
statement had gone no farther than the integrity of the ter - 
ritory of Portugal. He did not know what other points 
that Treaty might embrace, he only wished that his state¬ 
ment might be confined to the point of territory. 


L 

EXPOSITION OF THE PRINCIPLES OF THE 
TREATY OF MADRID, 

As laid down by Defermont, Counsellor of State , 
in his Speech to the Legislative Body , on the 30 th 
of November , 180L 

Ciiizens Legislators, 

The treaty which I have the honour to lay before 
you, is another of those acts for which we are indebted 
to the wisdom of the measures adopted by Government, 
and to the courageous enthusiasm of the armies of the 
Republic. 


You 



APPENDIX. xlv 

You will readily perceive the advantages which it 
affords for the honour and prosperity of both nations. 

It contains three principal articles. 

By the first, Peace and amity are re-established be¬ 
tween the French Republic and the Kingdom of Portu¬ 
gal ; and the political relations between the two Powers 
are re-established on the same footing as before the war. 

By the second, the limits are fixed for the future, 
between the two French and Portuguese Guianas. In 
an almost desert country, one could not make choice of 
better boundaries than the rivers and mountains, and 
it was natural that France, Whose possessions in this 
part are much less than those of Portugal, should ex¬ 
tend those limits to the ancient point at which they were 
fixed, 

Lastly, the third part states that a Treaty of Com¬ 
merce and Navigation shall be entered into between the 
two powers, which will fix definitively the commercial 
relations between France and Portugal ; but, in the mean 
time, the communications shall be restored, the citizens 
and subjects of the two Powers shall enjoy equally and 
respectively in the States of either, every right and privi¬ 
lege which the most favoured nations enjoy ; that the 
goods and merchandizes produced by the soil or the ma¬ 
nufactures of each of the two States, shall be admitted 
reciprocally without restrictions, and without being sub¬ 
ject to any tax which is not levied upon similar articles 
imported by other nations: it likewise stipulates that 
French cloths shall be introduced in Portugal upon the 
same footing as the most favoured merchandizes. 

These stipulations prove that the government has 
confined itself within the bounds of moderation. It has 
wished for nothing contrary to the interests of a nation 
which demanded our friendship; the most strict justice 

4 prescribed 


xivi 


APPENDIX, 


' / 


prescribed an entire reciprocity ; it was demanded by 
moderation ; it opens new sources for French industry, 
but it is not by assuring to it certain privileges or a mo¬ 
nopoly, that such industry is wished to be increased ; it is 
by exciting a noble emulation, that we ought to arrive at 
the height of prosperity. If the French Government had 
not consulted any other law than force, it might have 
been able to obtain greater advantages from Portugal. 
It thought, on the contrary, that the less powerful that 
nation was, the less it ought to attempt to weaken it. 

Portugal, for a long time, was an independent 
power; in 1581, it fell into the hands of the Spaniards. 
The Portuguese then possessed the Cape of Good Hope, 
by which they opened a new road to the commerce of the 
Indies, and filled it with their name; that vast and rich 
country, in which they signalized themselves by innu¬ 
merable exploits, and formed there the first European 
establishments. 

They had discovered the Brazils, and in that part of 
America had begun to establish a rich colony. 

The other Powers of Europe could not see without 
uneasiness the re-union with the kingdom of Spain of a 
monarchy so advantageously situated for acquiring in a 
great degree the commerce of the world, and which had 
the greatest riches, and the most extensive establishments 
in both the hemispheres. 

When, therefore, in 3640, the Portuguese under¬ 
took to re-establish the House of Braganza oil the throne, 
they received powerful assistance, but no power came 
forward in their behalf with so much alacrity as 
France. 

Relations of amity were then formed between the two 
nations, which were not weakened ’till the beginning of 
the :8th century. 


When 


APPENDIX. 


xlvii 


When the grandson of Lewis XIV. proceeded into 
Spain, the Portuguese Government, affrighted at seeing 
on that throne a Prince of the House of Bourbon, gave 
itseJf up, as it were to England, and consented to stipu¬ 
lations which have -ruined its industry, and almost des¬ 
troyed the ancient connections which existed between it 
and France. 

The Treaty of December 27, 1703, which was con- 
iirmed in 1713, caused a monopoly of the trade of Portu¬ 
gal by the merchants and manufacturers of England to the 
exclusion of other nations. 

All the woollens of England were admitted into 
Portugal, upon condition that Portuguese wines should 
pay in England only two-thirds of the duty upon French 
wines. 

The English, by means of this treaty, caused the 
Portuguese manufacturers firft to languish, and then en¬ 
tirely to cease. They became the agents and directors of 
the whole trade of Portugal. Almost all the wealth 
which came from the Portuguese colonies, came on ac¬ 
count of the English. Portugal was thus, in some de¬ 
gree, an English colony, a market for English commo¬ 
dities alone. 

It was in vain that an enlightened Minifter, with 
uncommon energy and perseverance, strove to deliver 
his country from the degradation into which she had 
fallen. All that his genius and industry could accom¬ 
plish, was undone by the English soon after his retreat. 
They were not more masters of the trade of their own co¬ 
lonies, than of that of the colonies .of Portugal. 

Manufactures then did not only find a ready sale in 
that country, but the English afted the part of faCtors 
between the Portuguese and all the rest of the manufac¬ 
turing nations of Europe. They could not perform this 

agency 


xlviii appendix. 

agency without profit. And their profits were so much 
clear loss to the Portuguese, and to the manufacturers* 
whose goods they bought for Portugal. 

The Portuguese Government was not more fortu¬ 
nate in the measures it took to secure its political inde¬ 
pendence. Its means of defence were feeble ; and it was 
reduced to trust its protection to the commercial power 
on whose dependence it was placed. . 

The Portuguese, naturally mild and easy in their 
temper, cherishing a delicate sense of honour and eager 
for glory, affable to strangers, and lovers of art and 
science, would of themselves have viewed the French 
Revolution, only as the emotion of a generous people 
rushing to the embrace of freedom. But the Govern¬ 
ment of Portugal was too much in a state of dependence 
on that of England, not to follow its example. 

The French ship the St. Jacques entered the port of 
Jago, under the faith of the law of nations, expect¬ 
ing to meet with friendship and protection from a people 
who had not declared war against us. The ship and 
cargo were seized, confiscated and sold. Portugal then 
sent her armies to oppose us on the Pyrenees : her fleets 
joined the fleets of England : and she openly took part 
with our enemies. 

After the peace of Campo-Formio, Portugal, dread¬ 
ing lest the armies of France should march through Spain? 
and invade her territories, sent an ambassador to Paris. 
He negotiated and signed a Definitive Treaty. That the 
Portuguese Government refused to ratify ; and by this 
refusal, the animosity between the two nations was ex¬ 
asperated. The Portuguese squadrons were afterwards 
seen to cruise before Malta and Alexandria. And it k 
remembered that the general of the army ©f the east, 
while the Portuguese ships were within sight, inserted in 

his 


APPENDIX* 


xllX 

his orders of the day, that a time would come when that 
nation should expiate, in tears of blood, the affront which 
she offered to the French Republic. 

The Treaty of Luneville, byrestoring peace to the 
Continent, pointed out the moment to exact vengeance 
for the wrongs which Portugal had done to France. At 
Madrid a convention was concluded between France and 
Spain, by which it was agreed that his Spanish Majesty 
and the French Republic should form a combined army* 
to oblige Portugal to relinquish her alliance with England, 
and to cede to the French and Spanish troops the occu- 
pancy of a fourth part of her territory, till the period of 
a definitive peace. 

It was not the objeff of this convention, merely to 
gratify vain pride, or revenge offences, which the mo¬ 
ment you are able to punish them, cease to have an ex¬ 
istence ; but this was a part in that grand chain of poli¬ 
tical operations, which reached from the Baltic to Hano¬ 
ver, and from Hanover to the confines of Otranto, and 
which thus tended to effect a general peace. 

The French Government adhered to its engage¬ 
ments. A division of the army, with a numerous train 
of artillery* crossed the Pyrenees, under the command 
of General Leclerc. 

General St. Cyr, an officer of distinguished merit. 
Was sent to accompany the Spanish general, and to form 
with him a plan of the campaign. Hostilities commenced, 
but after two or three skirmishes, in which not more 
than four or five hundred men were, on both sides, en¬ 
gaged, the Spanish general concluded, in the name of 
his Government, the Treaty of Badajos, in which lie 
forgot to stipulate the occupancy of a fourth of the 
Portuguese teritory, which was the thing chiefly provided 
for in the Convention of Madrid. 

g Ths 


! 


APPENDIX* 


The First Consul immediately signified, that he 
would not ratify the Treaty of Badajos; that it was con¬ 
trary to the political interests of the Allies ; that it was in 
diredl opposition to the Convention of Madrid ; and that 
its certain consequence to his Catholic Majesty must be 
the loss of the island of Trinidad, if he should ratify it 
separately. The Court of Madrid did separately ratify 
the Treaty of Badajos, and thus lost the island of Tri¬ 
nidad. 

After the peace with Spain, we continued some 
months at war with Portugal. We should have alone 
undertaken and accomplished that which Spain was, by 
the Convention of Madrid, to aid us in. We might have 
obtained the cession of a fourth part of the Portuguese 
territory till a general peace. But the negotiations with 
the Court of London were now advancing to maturity. 
Government gave its orders, and peace was signed with 
Portugal two days before the signing of the Preliminaries 
at London. 

The French Government endeavoured to put our 
commercial relations with Portugal upon a footing advan¬ 
tageous to both nations ; and at the same time to define 
the limits between Portuguese and French Guiana, in 
such a manner as to prevent all future differences. 

In regard to the first object, France demanded of 
Portugal, terms of mutual equality, such as the Portu¬ 
guese could not, in justice to their own interests, refuse. 
All nations stand more or Jess in need of one another. 
Whether they buy or sell,. nothing can be more advan¬ 
tageous than to draw to their markets-as many buyers and 
sellers as possible. All monopoly or exclusion of privi¬ 
leges to the profit of any one nation in the markets of 
another, hurts not only those nations which are excluded, 

but 


appendix. 


Ii 


but even the nation which grants the monopoly, because 
it obliges that nation to buy at a higher price than could 
be otherwise exacted. * 

The provisions of the treaty are agreeable to those 
principles by which all commercial intercourse among 
nations ought to be regulated. If they make a happy 
change in our trading intercourse with Portugal, both the 
French and the Portuguese will have to congratulate 
themselves on the alteration. 

Of the limits between the two Guianas, it may be 
stated, that by the convention of 1700, they were fixed 
at the river of the Amazons ; for by that convention, the 
Portuguese were obliged to demolish all their orts on 
the left bank of that river. By the Treaty of Utrecht, 
those limits were afterwards regulated in a manner in¬ 
complete, full of contradictions, and apt to give rise to 
many disputes. 

French Guiana is the only colony on the American 
continent that remain's to us ; while the English, Spani¬ 
ards, Portuguese, and Dutch, possess there extensive 
and flourishing establishments which they regard as one 
great source of national wealth. 

Cayenne, the principal port of the island of that 
name, is, likewise, the chief place of French Guiana* 
The progress of cultivation has changed the unwhole¬ 
someness of the climate. It is well known to naviga¬ 
tors, and can be no longer an object of terror. The 
richest productions of Asia, and the Asiatic Archi¬ 
pelagos have been there naturalized. Thus transplanted, 
their vegetation is more vigorous, and their produce more 
abundant t(ian in the countries to which they are indige¬ 
nous. Cattle, timber, and other productions may be 
procured from attention to the culture of Guiana, in any 
quantity* 

g s Thi| 


APPENDIX. 


Hi 

This uncultivated territory is little known beyond 
the distance of an hundred leagues inland. A few savage 
hordes have been met with in it, 'and easily persuaded to 
•attach themselves to the French, by whom they are treated 
with mildness and humanity. We traffic with those sa¬ 
vages till culture shall raise the value of the interior lands 
pf Guiana. 

The colony is far from being in a state of prosperity. 
It is still, however, of great importance to us, whether 
considered in respect to the assistance which Cayenne and 
our other colonies may derive from it, or as a new coun¬ 
try destined to receive such of our countrymen as an ad¬ 
venturous disposition or misfortune shall carry to settle 
at that distance from their native land. 

It were an error to suppose the Torrid Zone unin¬ 
habited by Europeans. The Amazon, the greatest river 
in the world, runs in a winding course parallel to the 
equinoxial line, two or three degrees south of that line, 
under which it comes at the point where its waters are 
discharged into the sea. La Condamine, who traversed 
the country, did not find its heat intolerable. It be¬ 
comes more moderate as the level of the country rises. 
We have reason to hope that we may there form a valu¬ 
able colony. 

Without doubt it can only be by powerful aid that 
we may expect to see those hopes realized > but first of 
all it is proper to fix the yet uncertain boundaries of the 
colony. 

Ifdebates have taken place in the English Parliament 
on the means of reconciling this division of territory with the 
Preliminary Preaty concluded between France and England, 
which secures the integrity of the Portuguese possessions, these 
debates cannot cause any serious difficulty. It is evident that 
the clause in the Preliminary Preaty related only to the inva¬ 
sion 


APPENDIX, 


Jiii 


stnn with which Portugal was threatened hy the French army 
on its frontiers. This clause cannot likewise be applicable to 
a determination of the limits which has been constantly under 
discussion. 

It was important, as well for Portugal as for France, 
that all misunderstanding at a future time should be pre¬ 
vented, and we may, in any point of view, consider the 
arrangement which has been the result of this object, 
as inimical to the integrity of the territory of Portugal. 

In short, the only advantage which France will de¬ 
rive is, that of enjoying undisturbed, a country at pre¬ 
sent uncultivated, but which, by the care and encou¬ 
ragement of an enlightened government, incessantly oc¬ 
cupied with the public prosperity, may receive speedy and 
great improvements, without exciting the envy or regret 
of Portugal, who still retains a much greater portion of 
territory than she is able to cultivate. 

The new alliance between the two nations will be¬ 
come more useful; the advantages they will derive from 
it reciprocally will contribute to unite two people destined 
to esteem and love each other ; and Portugal will resume 
in Europe the proper rank for a state, which ought to 
be jealous of its independence and its prosperity. 

In vain do some men, who are insensible to the 
cries of humanity, and given to ancient prejudices, wish 
to prolong a war that has already cost so much blood and 
treasure to Europe ; their murmurs will not avail over 
the wisdom which now presides in the councils of the 
respective governments. We may hope that a late treaty 
will soon put an end to all the miseries of war, and that 
treaties founded on justice and the common interest, 
will long ensure to us the inestimable blessings of peace. 



ti'v 


APPENDIX. 


K, 

MR. ADDINGTON’S DECLARATION 

Respecting the Treaty betzveen France and Portugal, 
signed at Madrid, 2 9th September, 1801. 


Extract front the Debates in the House of Commons, on 
the i\it of December , 1801. 

MR. WINDHAM said, as the House was likely to 
aljourn for some time, he should take the opportunity 
then offered, of requesting, before the House separated, 
some information upon a point of moment. He was 
sorry he did not see the Noble Lord (Lord Hawkesbury) 
in his place, who was the most proper person, from his par¬ 
ticular official situation, to apply to for satisfaction upon 
the subject. 'He thought, however, that the House, with 
the most perfect propriety, with respect cither to that 
Noble Lord, or any proceedings then going forward, 
might wish to have full information upon it at the pre¬ 
sent moment—he meant the integrity of Portugal, a$ • 
guaranteed by the Preliminaries of Peace between this 
country and France. Since their signature, a treaty was 
understood to have been entered into between France and 
Portugal, which entirely changed the article, orthepoiut 
of integrity stipulated with us. If so, it was a scandal¬ 
ous fraud on the part of France, and ought to be done 
away, either by not confirming a treaty founded in such 

a frauds 



A PPE N D I X* 


If 


a fraud, 01 by some other way. It was first communi¬ 
cated by a French paper, containing a copy of it; and the 
Noble Lord (Hawkcsbury), upon having the fact stated 
to him in that House, and being applied to for an expla¬ 
nation, answered, that he hoped it would not be con¬ 
firmed. Since, however, that hope was expressed, ano¬ 
ther communication had been received from France of 
the same kind, he meant the Moniteur, the French offi¬ 
cial paper, containing a discussion upon the subject, in 
which the debates upon the point in that House were al¬ 
luded to; and a counsellor of state is stated to declare, that 
the article involved no doubt whatever, and that it could 
not be contended but that the river of the Amazons 
should remain the boundary between the. French and 
Portuguese possessions in South America. Now, if any 
hope remained that this business might be set right, and 
was or might become a subject of conference at Amiens, 
he should acquiesce in answer to that effect; but, if any 
thing certain were known, if the hopes entertained upon 
the point were confirmed or given up, as the country 
must know the truth at last, he thought the sooner it 
knew it the better, as it would thence learn what sort of 
enemy we had to deal with. He deprecated any desire to 
embarrass Government, or to seek any information, the 
disclosureof which could have any injurious effect upon 
the negotiations fora definitive treaty. If, therefore, the 
information which he sought, would have any such ten¬ 
dency, he should be sorry to press for it. 

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER ex¬ 
pressed a confidence that the Right Honourable Gentle¬ 
man would be one of the last in the House to wish to 
embarrass the proceedings of Government, or press for 
any information, the disclosure of which would have 
2 an 


APPENDIX. 


ivi 

an injurious tendency. The information required in the 
present case, he thought, would not involve any such 
consequence. He assured him on this head, that he and 
his colleagues had the best reason , short of a confirmation by 
the definitive treaty , to think that the treaty of Badajos would 
be in force , and that the treaty of Madrid would be can¬ 
celled. 


L. 

Mr. ADDINGTON’S DECLARATION 

Respecting the Plea of Necessity . 


Extract from the Debates in the House of Commons, on the 
29th of October, 1801. 

MR. WINDHAM said, that life should have fol¬ 
lowed the course of pioceeding held out by his Honour, 
able Friends on the Treasury Bench, as the proper mode 
on this occasion had it not been for something that was 
thrown out by his Honourable Friend; he should have con¬ 
tented himself with giving a silent vote of approbation of 
the Address, had it not happened that some things were 
dropped which s#cmed to imply an approbation of the 
Preliminaries of Peace. His Friend did not intend it so, 
but from what he said, he seemed to Convey an idea that 
all the Members of the House approved of that measure ; 
he was desirous to give no countenance to opinions to 

which 



APPENDIX 


lvii 


which he did not assent. This matter being clearly un¬ 
derstood, he should have no disposition to say more this 
night upon the subject, reserving the opinion _he had 
.formed, and the reasons he had to support it with, to the 
occasion that might regularly call for it, which would, 
he presumed, be a day appointed for that purpose; but 
as his Honourable Friend had gone a little further, and 
had given his opinion upon the outline of the subject^ 
Fir. Windham said, he must likewise state his, which 
was, unfortunately, as decidedly against the peace, as 
that of his Friend was for it. He was aware that to dis¬ 
sent from any such general opinion as that of his Hon. 
Friend, was at all times painful to him, it was still more 
so, since that opinion was so generally approved of and sup-s¬ 
ported. He could have no delight in being a mourner 
in a .scene of general rejoicing—to wear a countenance of 
sorrow, * while others seemed to sparkle with joy—to 
sink into despair while others were lifted up by hope, was 
a singularity not to be envied, nor should he be longer in 
assigning his reason for it than would be necessary in order 
to be understood. He admitted that those who had enter¬ 
tained opposite opinions upon the war might, as properly re¬ 
marked by his Friend (Mr. Pitt), yet agree in feelings as 
to the termination of it.—So it was likely to happen 
that the Hon. Gentleman opposite to him (Mr. Fox), 
whose opinions were now happily known to his country, 
might agree with his Honourable Friend (Mr. Pitt) in the 
termination of this contest. Although he agreed with 
the Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Fox) in his view of the 
state of facts, that this was a peace glorious to France, 
he believed he differed widely from that Gentleman as to 
the feelings which should thence arise in the breasts of 
Englishmen. In his view of things (which might per¬ 
haps be a mistaken one) there was no cause lor rejoicing 

h at 


APPENDIX* 


Ivin 

at the peace we were about to have; he foresaw that this 
rejoicing might be turned into bitter lamentation : thi 
he said, because he thought that the advantages, as some 
people called them, which this peace would bring with 
it, would pave the way to the ruin of this country. The 
general illuminations were to him no sign of comfort, 
for he saw no reasonable cause for the people of England 
to rejoice. He must, before he assented to them, ask 
himself, “ Are these the lights of the sepulchre, or the 
tokens of the knell of our funeral ?”—Before I put on 
my wedding garment, I must know whether I atn invited 
to the feast or the funeral ; from the bottom of my heart 
I think this precedes, the bitterness of sorrow and the la¬ 
mentation of death. Considering the situation in which 
we now stand, I think that the moment my Honourable 
Friends signed this treaty, they signed the death-warrant 
of their country ; or, at least, they have given it a blow 
which 1 think it can never recover from. He said, he 
knew how unpleasant it was to the House, nay, he felt 
it unpleasant to himself, to dwell upon observations 
which were made against his wishes, although dictated by 
his judgment. He knew the uncertainty of humai} affairs, 
and how vain it was in man to attempt to prescribe bounds 
to the dispensations of Providence, the ways of which were 
invisible to human sight. He could not tell what changes 
there may be without and within us—What temper, 
what spirit the people of this and other countries may 
have—what may be done for our political salvation. He 
did not say we should not entertain any hope, for he 
knew that hope might exist when reasonable confidence 
was extinguished ; and he knew that exertions ought to 
be continued, after reasonable expectation was gone ; 
and, therefore, he did not wish the people of this coun¬ 
try to despair; but l}e would say wa% that upon no 

yiew 


APPENDIX. 


lix 


view he could take of public affairs, from no principle 
that he knew, that induced a reasonable man to aft, could 
he state to himself the way in which this country could 
come out of the difficulty into which this peace would 
throw it. T here was one thing more which he wished to 
take notice of: he had long thought there was only one 
way by which this country could escape from the dread¬ 
ful effect which we all apprehended from the gigantic 
power of France ; and that was, by preserving the supe¬ 
riority of our commerce. It had appeared to him also, 
that there was but one thing wanting for France, to enable 
it to extend its empire, and to become as much the terror 
of other nations by sea as it had by land, and that was, 
to extend its commerce : this, in a fatal moment, in 
his opinion, we had given to France. How our ruin 
could be avoided, he did not know.—Others, undoubt¬ 
edly, entertained hopes ; how well founded such hopes 
were, time would shew. All that he had hitherto heard 
upon that subject, appeared to him to be either very 
doubtful, or entirely defective. What might be the ef¬ 
fect of what we now saw, no man could know; bu^ 
he apprehended nothing to us but our ruin. This was 
nearly all he had to say, and which he apprehended was 
called for by what had preceded it on this occasion; he 
should not have added another word, if the expression of 
an “ honourable peace” had not occurred to him. It need 
not have been introduced; it seemed to have been im- 
providently and impoliticly mentioned, for it was more 
than was asked. He would not ask for an honourable 
peace ; not that he undervalued the honour of a nation ; 
no, he thought honour one of its dearest possessions, 
but for the sake of argument, and for that only, he would 
put it out of the way, and say, in this particular case, 
“ Shew me it is a safe peace, and 1 shall be contented.”—• 
h 2 Now 


Ix 


APPENDIX. 


after saying this, which was certainly his opinion on this 
peace, whether that was a subject of censure or applause, 
there was certainly no disapprobation of the present Address 
implied by what he said, although he had no wish to dis¬ 
semble any sentiment he entertained ; because if what had 
gone abroad was true, we were really driven to agree 
to this peace by necessity. If that was the case, the framers 
of the peace on the part of this country, had great merit. 
We were not to condemn them for what they gave up, but 
to applaud them for what they had saved ; not for Ceylon or 
Trinidada, but for saving to us Portsmouth or Plymouth, or 
preserving Ireland to the British Empire, and for preventing 
greater humiliation. 'If this was really our state, and we 
made peace from necessity, we must applaud them for the 
peace, because the value of the peace would then be judged 
of, not from the thing itself, but from the necessity which 
gave it birth. That however was a subject which should be 
discussed hereafter ; and the questions would be, how tar 
the peace was a peace of necessity ? and, what the degree of 
the necessity was ? for nothing, in his apprehension, could 
justify the putting of the state into such danger as this peace 
would, but absolute necessity. This was all he had to say at 
present upon this subject, except merely to add, that as to the 
Address now before the House, he concurred with the two 
Gentlemen who had just preceded him (Mr. Pitt and Mr. 
Fox)* in giving it his assent. 

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, 
he hoped his Right Honourable Friend would pardon him if 
lie expressed an opinion that he had gone into rather more 
minuteness than the question now before the House called 
for, even in his own view of it as explained by himself, and 
particularly at the conclusion of his speech, by which it ap¬ 
peared he concurred in the Address. The observations of 
7 his 


A P P E N D I X. 


Ix. 


his Honourable Friend were (he would pardon him for say¬ 
ing so) a little premature ; that subject was not now before 
the House ; even in his Majesty’s most gracious Speech from, 
the throne, there was expressed no other sentiment on the 
peace, but such as was conveyed by these words : “ That his 
Majesty trusts the arrangements will be found conducive to 
the general interests of this country, and to the honour of the 
British empire.” In this there was no reference whatever 
even to that sentim'ent so conveyed from the throne. Indeed 
it would be irregular and indecorous to ask of the House an 
opinion upon a subject not fully before it. His Honourable 
Friend very well knew, that preliminary terms of peace had 
been signed on the part of his Majesty and the French Re¬ 
public, but the terms were not before the House. His Hon. 
Friend had entered into the subject of the peace, however, 
and expressed some lamentation over it. He should not fol¬ 
low him in answer to what he urged now, although he 
might, in some measure, regularly do so. Nor should he 
enter into any dispute now upon the general proposition laid 
down by his Honourable Friend, not because he was unpre¬ 
pared, but because another opportunity would offer for that 
purpose. He should then enter on the discussion with his 
Honourable Friend, but he should do it under a painful 
feeling, for painful it was to him to differ in opinion from 
one who had proved himself to be a zealous advocate for, 
and a virtuous guardian of the constitution, and to* whom 
(whatever difference of opinion might subsist between them) 
he would add, the country was under deep obligation for 
many great services, particularly when he warned the c'ouii- 
try of its danger, when its safety was at stake, and for the ef¬ 
forts he made to preserve it. His Honourable Friend had 
said, that we ought to consider the extension of our commerce 
as the only counter-balance in our power against the exten-' 
sion of territory of the French Republic, He would not 


now 


Ixii APPENDIX- 

now refer to the terms of the peace, for that he could not dor 
with regularity, but he would aver, that all that we had given 
up would have afforded to us no sort of security against the dan¬ 
ger which was apprehended by his Honourable Friend. He 
did not agree with his Honourable Friend on the subject of 
the extent of the power of France, and of our mode of ba¬ 
lancing that power, for he thought the best counterpoise of 
this country, against the growing power of France, was in 
the preservation of our Constitution—*to our industry and 
skill, to our frugality and temperance, much was to be also 
confided To the right direction and preservation of what 
remained of the faculties, abilities, and resources of the 
country: and happily much indeed remained of such re¬ 
sources, much was to be looked for as a security for us in 
time of peace, for a continuance of its blessings. His Ho¬ 
nourable Friend had said, he should abstain from saying many 
things which would occur to him to deliver on a future occa¬ 
sion. Nothing less could be expected from his liberality, can¬ 
dour, or justice ; but he hinted at one thing which ought not 
to pass without a direct answer : he would therefore say, it 
never was in contemplation of those who had the honour of 
advising his Majesty to sign the Preliminaries of Peace, that 
what they did was the effect of necessity. His Honourable 
Friend had stated, that some unknown necessity might have 
been the cause—“ I disclaim that plea,” said Mr. Adding¬ 
ton, “ I will be no party to such a statement. I do not seek 
“ my own justification, nor will my colleagues, I am per- 
“ suaded, seek theirs, in any such way—that w'ould be really 
“ undervaluing the resources of our country. If instead of 
“ acceding to the terms agreed upon, and which are likely 
“ soon to be finally settled, the enemy had made it neces- 
44 sary for us to continue the contest, we should, I am con- 
44 fident, have continued the contest; and I am confident 
44 also, that w r e should have proved to the world that we 

44 have 


APPENDIX, 


Ixiii 


** have still sufficient faculties and resources to maintain the 
t( honour and preserve the security of the British empire. I 
“ could not forbear saying this, for the purpose, chiefly, of 
“ disclaiming that species of justification which my Honour- 
“ able Friend supposed to arise out of necessity. 1 hope 
“ my justification, and that of my colleagues, will be found 
44 in the actual state of things, in which, I hope, it will ap- 
i( pear we have had a prudent regard to the true interest of 
“ our country: and I aver also, that if we had not advised 
“ His Majesty to conclude these terms, we should not 
“ only have been wanting in what we owed to our con- 
iC stituents, but of a gross perversion of our duty to 
His Majesty as the father of his people.”—He then ob¬ 
served that he should defer the observations he had to make 
on the present state of the Continent of Europe, as well as 
many other topics which would come into discussion at a 
future day ; and observed that what he had already said, had 
been called for by what had been delivered by his Honour¬ 
able Friend who had just preceded him. 


M. 

MR. ADDINGTON’S ANSWER, 

Respecting the sailing of the French Fleet and Army. 


From the Debates in the House of Commons , on the 2 Sth of 
December, 1801. 

MR. T. GRENVILLE said, on a motion for ad¬ 
journing the House even to so near a day he could not sit 

silent 



IxiV APPENDIX. 

silent under existing circumstances, nor consistently with 
his sense of duty forbear calling the attention of the 
House to a subject of the most serious importance, if not 
of alarm. He had been one of those who did not approve 
the grounds upon which the late Preliminary Treaty of 
Peace with France was concluded, because he did not 
conceive those grounds either so honourable, so advan¬ 
tageous, or so consistent with security to this country as 
existing circumstances warranted his Majesty’s Ministers 
to demand. He had, on the night when those prelimi¬ 
naries were submitted for the opinion of the House, de¬ 
livered his sentiments fully on the subject. A majority 
of the House had, however, decided by their vote against 
his opinion ; he therefore felt it his duty, as he always 
should in such circumstances, to submit with profound 
deference to whatever appeared to be the declared sense of 
Parliament; and he rose not now for the purpose of start¬ 
ing any new objections, or giving any embarrassment 
whatever to his Majesty’s Ministers on the subject of the 
pending treaty. Theie was, however, a circumstance 
which reached his knowledge this day, so strongly sup¬ 
ported by the voice of general rumour, and accredited by 
general belief, as could not fail to interest the serious 
consideration of every man who heard him ; and such an 
one as he could not, conscientiously as a Member of 
Parliament, or consistently with his duty to his country, 
pass over in silence at such a moment and on such a mo¬ 
tion as the present—The circumstance to which he al¬ 
luded was the current, generally received, and uncontra¬ 
dicted report, that during the very negotiation now pend¬ 
ing of a Definitive Treaty of Peace with France, founded 
on those preliminaries to whiph this House had so recently 
given its approbation, a French force of not less than 
sixteen sad of the line, with transports, conveying ten 

thousand 


Appendix. ' lx/ 

thousand troops, had actually sailed from Brest harbour 
on an expedition to the West-Indies, avowedly, as was 
said, for the island of St. Domingo, without any moles¬ 
tation or hindrance whatever on the part of Great-Britain. 

Whether the fact was as is generally rumoured and 
believed, it was for His Majesty’s Ministers to acknow¬ 
ledge or contradict. But if true, the decided superiority 
such a force would give to France in that quarter of the 
world, and the menace of danger it carried to some of opr 
most valuable and important settlements in the West, 
should the enemy have it in design to break off the nego¬ 
tiation and commence hostilities* were considerations not 
to be contemplated without the most serious alarm. 

He would not assume to say that the Government of 
France entertained such a design as that of rejecting the 
many superior advantages ceded to them in the Prelimi¬ 
nary Treaty, and of breaking up the negotiation for the 
purpose of recommencing hostilities, which this proceed¬ 
ing would in such case enable them to do upon grounds 
and probabilities of effect so totally different and superior 
to what they could have done had their fleets been kept 
blocked up in their ports, as they were immediately pre¬ 
vious to the signature of the Preliminary Treaty. Hi 
would not undertake to decide with what ultimate view3 
the French Government, during the negotiation of a 
treaty, formed upon a truce concluded by both countries, 
upon a supposed union of sentiments upon the general 
grounds on which this truce was to be extended to a per¬ 
manent treaty of peace 5 had thought fit to send out such, 
a force without the assent of the British Government. 
But convinced he wa~, that if any stipulation for assent to 
such a measure pending the negotiation fcf a Definitive 
Treaty had been found amongst the preliminary articles, 
a verv great nu'mber of those who had warmly and fin* 

plicit/ 


1 


Ixviii 


APPENDI-X* 


Austria had also acquired great additional strength; and 
these were considerations which should accompany our 
thoughts upon the acquisitions of France upon the Con¬ 
tinent. There was another point which should accom¬ 
pany our apprehensions on the extension of the territories 
of France, which was, that of the diminution of our 
wealth, and that by which states obtained wealth, com¬ 
merce ; and he believed if this part of the subject was con¬ 
sidered fairly, and if we remembered to what the great 
wealth and power of Great-Brit^in was owing, we should 
make our minds at ease, after a little reflection upon that 
subject—we should find our power increased in a propor¬ 
tion fully equal to any of the powers of the Continent. 
He knew there was a difference of opinion as to the ques¬ 
tion how far the commerce of this country depended on the 
war, and what we ought to restore at the time of peace. 
He would take a view of the state of the case, as if the 
commerce arising out of the acquisition we had made were 
out of the question, and confine his statement to the 
commerce we had from those possessions we had pre¬ 
vious to the war, and compare their produce at two pe¬ 
riods—the peace before the war, and that of the war. 
By a paper which he held in his hand, it appeared that 
the value of exports of British plantation for three years 
preceding this war, was 2,185,000!. For three years of 
this war, 3.561,000!.—Colonial produce for the same time 
for peace, 3,877,0001. During war, 5,101,000!.—East- 
India imports for three years of Peace, 3,183,000!. For 
the same period of war, 5,617,000k—Exports of British 
manufactures to America, three years of peace, 3,694,000!. 
For the ame period, of war 6,232.0001.—British manu¬ 
facture, &c. to our colonies for three years of peace 
747,000! War in the same period, 1,224,000k—British 
manufactures exported to the Continent of Europe, 
T 53 °> 0001 War, 2,145,000!. Q, 


APPENDIX, 



O. 

Buonaparte’s proclamation, 

Issued, in the Arabic Language, on his landing 
in Egypt .» 

In the name of God, gracious and merciful.—* 
There is no God but God ; he has no son or associate 
in his kingdom. 

The present moment, which is destined for the 
punishment of the Bevs, has been long anxiously ex¬ 
pected. The Beys, corning from the mountains of 
Georgia and Bajars, have desolated this beautiful 
country, long insulted and treated with contempt the 
French Nation, and oppressed her merchants in various 
ways. Buonaparte, the General of the French Republic, 
according to the principles of Liberty, is now arrived ; 
and the Almighty, the Lord of both Worlds, has sealed 
the destruction of the Beys. 

Inhabitants of Egypt! When the Beys tell you 
the French are come to destroy your religion, believe 
them not: it is an absolute falsehood. Answer those 
deceivers, that they are only come to rescue the rights 
of the poor from the hands of their tyrants, and that 


* This Proclamation forms but a very trifling article in that im~ 
mense mass of materials, which may be brought in to elucidate the 
character of the man, on whose good faith our Ministers have staked the 
preservation of our liberties and lives. 




APPENDI X. 


!xx 

the French adore the Supreme Being, and honour the 
Prophet and his holy Koran , 

All men are espial in the e}*cs of God: under¬ 
standing, ingenuity, and science, alone make a dif¬ 
ference between them : as the Beys, therefore, do not 
possess any of these qualities, they cannot be worthy 
to govern the country, 

Yet are they the only possessors of extensive tracts 
of land, beautiful female slaves, excellent horses, mag¬ 
nificent palaces’ Have they then received an exclusive 
privilege from the Almighty ? If so, let them produce 
it. But the Supreme Being, who is just and merciful 
towards all mankind, wills that in future none of the 
inhabitants of Egypt shall be prevented from attaining 
to the 'first employments and the highest honours.— 
The Administration, which shall be conducted by 
persons of intelligence, talents, and foresight, will be 
productive of happiness and security. The tyranny 
and avarice of the Beys have laid waste Egypt, which 
was formerly so populous and well cultivated. 

The French are true Mussulmen. Not 
long since they marched to Rome , and overthrew the 
Throne of the Pope , who excited the Christians against 
the professors of Islamism (the Mahometan religion). 
Afterwards they directed their course to Malta, and 
drove out the unbelievers , who imagined they were 
appointed by God to make war on the Mussulmen. 
The French have at all times been the true and sincere 
friends of the Ottoman Emperors, and the enemies 
of their enemies. May the Empire of the Sultan 
therefore be eternal; but may the Beys of Egypt, our 
opposers, whose insatiable avarice has continually ex¬ 
cited disobedience and, insubordination, be trodden in 
the dust, and annihilated! 

Our 


APPENDIX. 


Ixxi 


Our friendship shall be extended to those of the 
inhabitants of Egypt who shall join us, as also to those 
who shall remain in their dwellings, and observe a 
strict neutrality; and when they have seen our con¬ 
duct with their own,eyes, hasten to submit to us ; but 
the dreadful punishment of death awaits those who 
shall take up arms for the Beys, and against us. For 
then there shall be no deliverance, nor shall any trace 
of them remain. 

Art. 1. All places which shall be three leagues 
distant from the route of the French army, shall send 
one of their principal inhabitants to the French General, 
to declare that they submit, and will hoist the French 
flag, which is blue, white, and red. 

Art. 2. Every village which shall oppose the 
French army shall be burned to the ground. 

Art. 3. Every village which shall submit to the 
French, shall hoist the French flag, and that of the Su¬ 
blime Porte, their Ally, whose duration be eternal'. 

Art. 4. The Cheiks and principal persons of each 
town and village shall seal up the houses and effects 
of the Beys, and take care that not the smallest article 
shall be lost. 

Art. 5. The Cheiks, Cadis, and Imans, shall con¬ 
tinue to exercise their respective functions; and put 
up their prayers, and perform the exercise of religious 
worship in the mosques and houses of prayer. All the 
inhabitants of Egypt shall offer up thanks to the Su¬ 
preme Being, and put up public prayers for the de¬ 
struction of the Beys. 

May the Supreme God make the glory of the 
Sultan of the Ottomans eternal, pour forth his wrath 
on the Mameloues, and render glorious the-destiny of 
the Egyptian Nation. 


P. 


lxxii 


APPENDIX. 


P. 

Extracts 

From Speeches of Messrs. Pitt and Fox, and 
Lord Hawkesbury, respecting Buonaparte 
and Peace with France. 


Mr. PITT. 

June 7tb, 1799. 

Every event that has taken place within a short 
period, and the universal expression of the public 
opinion, shews that we are rising in 'private wealth , 
and public prosperity and affluence. Every thing con¬ 
vinces us that we are in a situation in which we ought 
not to stop short of that adequate , full, and rational 
security which we have a right to expect: Indemnity 
for the past and security for the future. Every thing 
that now presents itself to our view, must serve to do 
away the gloomy prognostics which some persons, 
from a spirit of opposition to government, and others 
from timidity and despondency, were in the habit of 
making. 

It is only necessary for us to bear a pressure for 
a short time, and I have no hesitation in saying, that 
we have ample means to meet this pressure, and the 
additional burdens we are now wisely to impose on 
ourselves. If we look to the certainty of not being 
7 baffled 




APPENDIX, 


lxxiii 


baffled in that on which the enemy found their most 
sanguine hopes, and place their chief reliance, while 
they meditate our destruction, we shall have the satis¬ 
faction of seeing, that those resources which our ene¬ 
mies have been obliged to procure, through the me¬ 
dium of robbery, rapine, confiscation, and murder, 
are furnished to us by honest industry, and the free 
consent of a generous and loyal people ; and that too 
in such abundance as is sufficient to gratify every view 
of ambition which we may entertain. Here Mr. Pitt 
w’ent into calculations, to shew that the whole national 
debt would be extinguished in thirty-three years of 
. peace ; that, supposing the war to continue ever so long , 
it could be carried on without the creation of a new debt; 
and that nine years of war might be supported without 
any material inconvenience to the nation. 

February 3 d, 1800 . 

The all-searching eye of the French Revolution 
looks to every part of Europe, and every quarter of 
the World, in which can be found an object either of 
acquisition or plunder. Nothing is too great for the 
temerity of its ambition, nothing too small or insigni¬ 
ficant for the grasp of its rapacity. From hence 
Buonaparte and his Army proceeded to Egypt. The 
attack was made, pretences were held out to the Na¬ 
tives of that Country in the name of the French King, 
whom they had murdered; they pretended to have 
the approbation of the Grand Seignior, whose Terri¬ 
tories they were violating ; their project was carried 
on under the profession of a zeal for Mahometanism ; 
it was carried on by proclaiming that France had been 
reconciled to the Mussulman Faith, had abjured that 
of Christianity, or as he in his impious language 

termed it, of the Sect of the Messiah. 

k 


Ixxiv 


APPENDIX. 


The only plea which they have since held out to 
colour this atrocious invasion of a neutral and friendly 
territory is, that it was the road to attack the English 
power in India. It is most unquestionably true, that 
this was one and a principal cause of this unparalleled 
outrage ; but another, and an equalty substantial cause, 
(as appears by their own statements,) was the division 
and partition of the territories of what they thought a 
falling Power. It is impossible to dismiss this subject 
without observing that this attack against Egypt was 
accompanied by an attack upon the British Possessions 
in India, made on true revolutionary principles. In 
Europe, the propagation of the principles of France 
had uniformly prepared the way for the progress of its 
arms. To India the lovers of Peace had sent the Mes¬ 
sengers of Jacobinism, for the purpose of inculcating 
War in those distant regions, on Jacobin principles, 
and of forming Jacobin Clubs, which they actually 
succeeded in establishing, and which in most respects 
resembled the European model, but which were distin¬ 
guished by this peculiarity, that they were required to 
swear in one breath, hatred to Tyranny , the love of 
Liberty , and the destruction of all Kings and Sovereigns , 
except the good and faithful Ally of the French Republic , 
CITIZEN TIPPOO. 

What then was the nature of this system \ Was 
it any thing but what I have stated it to be ? an insa¬ 
tiable love of aggrandizement, an implacable spirit of 
destruction directed against all the civil and religious 
institutions of every country. This is the first moving 
and acting spirit of the French Revolution ; this is the 
spirit which animated it at its birth, and this is the 
spirit which will not desert it till the moment of its 
dissolution, “ which grew with its growth, which 

(( strengthened 


APPENDIX. 


Ixxr 

<e stengthened with its strength,” but which has not 
abated under its misfortunes, nor declined in its de¬ 
cay ; it has been invariably the same in every period, 
operating more or less, according as accident or cir¬ 
cumstances might assist it; but it has been inherent in 
the Revolution in all its stages, it has equally belong¬ 
ed to Brissot, to Robespierre, to Tallien, to Rewbel, 
to Barras, and to every one of the Leaders of the 
Directory, but to none more than to Buonaparte, in 
whom now all their powers are united. What are its 
characters ? Can it be accident that produced them ? 
No, it is only from the alliance of the most horrid 
principles, with the most horrid means, that such mi¬ 
series could have been brought upon Europe. It is 
this paradox which we must always keep in mind 
when we are discussing any question relative to the 
effects of the French Revolution. Groaning under 
every degree of misery, the victim of its own crimes, 
and as I once before expressed it in this House, asking 
pardon of God and of Man for the miseries which it 
has brought upon itself and others, France still retains, 
(while it has neither left means of comfort, nor almost 
of subsistence to its own inhabitants), new and unex¬ 
ampled means of annoyance and destruction against all 
the other Powers of Europe. 

The first fundamental principle of the French 
Government was to bribe the poor against the rich, by 
proposing to transfer into new hands, on the delusive 
notion of Equality, and in breach of every principle 
of justice, the whole Property of the Country ; the 
practical application of this principle was to devote 
the whole of that Property to indiscriminate plunder, 
and to make it the foundation of a Revolutionary sys¬ 
tem of Finance, productive in proportion to the misery 
k 2 and 


lxxvi APPENDIX. 

and desolation which it created. It has been accom* 
panied by an unwearied spirit of Proselytism, diffusing 
itself over all the Nations of the Earth ; a spirit which 
can apply itself to all circumstances and all situations, 
which can furnish a list of grievances, and hold out a 
promise of redress equally to all nations, which in¬ 
spired the teachers of French Liberty with the hope 
of alike recommending themselves to those who live 
under the feudal code of the German Empire ; to the 
Various States of Italy, under all their different insti¬ 
tutions ; to the old Republicans of Holland, and to 
the new Republicans of America ; to the Catholics of 
Ireland, whom it was to deliver from Protestant usur¬ 
pation; to the Protestant of Switzerland, whom it 
was to deliver from Popish superstition; and to the 
Mussulman of Egypt, whom it was to deliver from 
Christian persecution; to the remote Indian, blindly 
bigoted to his ancient institutions ; and to the Natives 
of Grcat-Britain, enjoying the perfection of practical 
freedom, and justly attached to their constitution, 
from the joint result of habit, of reason, and of ex¬ 
perience. The last and distinguishing feature is a 
perfidy which nothing can bind, which no tie of 
Treaty, no sense of the principles generall}* received 
among Nations, no obligation, human or divine, can 
restrain. Thus qualified, thus armed for destruction, 
tbe genius of the French Revolution marched forth, 
the terror and dismay of the World. Every Nation 
lias in its turn been the witness, many have been 
the victims of its principles, and it is left for us to 
decide, whether we will compromise with such a 
danger, while we have yet resources to supply the 
sinews of War, while the heart and spirit of the 

Country 


APPENDIX. 


Ixxvli 


Country is yet unbroken, and while we have the means 
of calling fortii and supporting a powerful co-operation 
in Europe. 

Having taken a view of what it was, let us now 
examine what it is. In the first place, we see, as has 
been truly stated, a change in the description and form 
of the sovereign authority ; a supreme pow er is placed 
at the head of this nominal Republic, with a more 
open avowal of military despotism than at any former 
period; with a more open and undisguised abandon¬ 
ment of the names and pretences under which that 
despotism long attempted to conceal itself. The dif¬ 
ferent institutions, republican in their form and ap¬ 
pearance, which were before the instruments of that 
despotism, are now annihilated ; they have given way 
to the absolute power of one man, concentrating in 
himself all the authority of the state, and differing from 
other monarchs only in this, that (as my Honourable 
Friend * truly stated it) he wields a sword instead of 
a sceptre. What then is the confidence we are to de¬ 
rive either from the frame of the government, or from 
the character and past conduct of the person who is 
now the absolute ruler of France ? 

Had we seen a man of whom we had no previous 
knowledge suddenly invested with the soverign autho¬ 
rity of the country; invested with the power of taxa¬ 
tion, with the power of the sword, the power of war 
and peace, the unlimited power of commanding the 
resources, of disposing of the lives and fortunes of 
every man in France ; if we had seen, at the same mo¬ 
ment, all the inferior machinery of the revolution. 


* Mr. Canning, 


which. 



Ixxviii 


APPENDIX. 


which, under the variety of successive shocks, had kept 
the system in motion, still remaining entire, all that, 
by requisitioh and plunder, had given activity to the 
revolutionary system of finance, and had furnished the 
means of creating an army, by converting every man, 
who was of age to bear arms, into a soldier, not for 
the defence of his own country but for the sake of 
carrying unprovoked war into surrounding countries; 
if we had seen all the subordinate instruments of Jaco¬ 
bin power subsisting in their full force, and retaining 
(to use the French phrase) all their original organiza¬ 
tion ; and had then observed this single change in the 
conduct of their affairs, that there was now one man, 
with no rival to thwart his measures, no colleague to 
divide his powers, no council to controul his opera¬ 
tions, no liberty of speaking or writing, no expression 
of public opinion to check or influence his conduct; 
under such circumstances, should we be wrong to 
pause, or wait for the evidence of facts and experience, 
before we consented to trust our safety to the forbear¬ 
ance of a single man, in such a situation, and to relin¬ 
quish those means of defence which have hitherto car¬ 
ried us safe through all the storms of the revolution ? 
if we were to ask what are the principles and character 
of this stranger, to whom Fortune has suddenly com¬ 
mitted the concerns of a great and powerful nation ? 

But is this the actual state of the present question ? 
Are we talking of a stranger of whom we have heard 
nothing? No, Sir: we have heard of him; we, and 
Europe, and the world, have heard both of him and 
of the satellites by whom he is surrounded. And it 
is impossible to discuss fairly the propriety of any 
answer which could be returned to his overtures of 
negotiation, without taking into consideration the 

inferences 


A P P E N D I X.*., 


Ixxix 


inferences to be drawn from his p^rso'nal character 
and conduct. I know it is the fashion with some 
gentlemen to represent any reference to topics of this 
nature as invidious and irritating ; but the truth is, 
that they arise unavoidably out of the very nature of 
the question. Would it have been possible for Mi¬ 
nisters to discharge their duty, in offering their advice 
to their Sovereign, either for accepting or declining 
negotiation, without taking into their account the 
reliance to be placed on the disposition and the prin¬ 
ciples of the person, on whose disposition and princi¬ 
ples the security to be obtained by treaty must, in the 
present circumstances, principally depend : or would 
they act honestly or candidly, towards Parliament 
and towards the Country, if, having been guided by 
these considerations, they forebore to state publicly 
and distinctly, the real grounds which have influenced 
their decision ; and if, from a false delicacy and ground¬ 
less timidity, they purposely declined an examination 
of a point the most essential towards enabling Parlia¬ 
ment to form a just determination on so important a 
subject ? 

What opinion, then, are we led to form of the 
pretensions of the Consul to those particular qualities 
which, in the Official Note, are represented as afford¬ 
ing us, from his personal character, the surest pledge 
of peace ? we are told that this is his second attempt at 
general pacification. Let us see, for a moment, how 
this second attempt has been conducted. There is, in¬ 
deed, as the Learned Gentleman has said, a word in 
the first Declaration which refers to general peace, and 
which states this to be the second time in which the 
Consul has endeavoured to accomplish that object. 

thought fit, for the reasons which have been 

assigned, 


APPENDIX. 


bcxx 

assigned, to decline altogether the proposal of treat¬ 
ing, under the present circumstances, but we, at the 
same time, expressly stated, that, whenever the mo¬ 
ment for treaty should arrive, we would in no case 
treat, but in conjunction with our Allies, Our general 
refusal to negotiate at the present moment did not pre¬ 
vent the Consul from renewing his overtures ; but were 
they renewed for the purpose of general pacification ? 
Though he had hinted at general peace in the terms 
of his first Note; though we had shewn, by our an¬ 
swer, that we deemed negotiation, even for general 
peace, at this moment, inadmissible; though we added, 
that, even at any future period, we would treat only 
in conjunction with our Allies; what was the propo¬ 
sal contained in his last Note ?—to treat not for gene- 
ral peace , but for a separate peace between Grcat-Bri- 
tain and France. 

Such was the second attempt to effect general pa¬ 
cification : a proposal for a separate treaty with Great- 
Britain.—What had been the first ? the conclusion of 
a separate treaty with Austria 3 and, in addition to this 
fact, there are two anecdotes connected with the con¬ 
clusion of that separate treaty, which are sufficient to 
illustrate the disposition of this pacificator of Europe. 
This very treaty of Campo For,mio was ostentatiously 
professed to be concluded with the Emperor for the 
purpose of enabling Buonaparte to take the command 
of the Army of England, and to dictate a separate 
peace with this Country on the banks of the Thames. 
But there is this additional circumstance, singular be¬ 
yond all conception, considering that we are now re¬ 
ferred to the treaty of Campo Formio, as a proof of 
the personal disposition of the Consul to general peace ; 
he sent his two confidential and chosen friends, 
3 Bet* 


Appendix. Ixxxi 

Kerthier and Monge , charged to communicate to 
the Directory this treaty of Campo Formic; to an¬ 
nounce to them, that one enemy was humbled, that 
the war with Austria w'as terminated; and, therefore, 
that now was the. moment to prosecute their operations 
against this Country ; they used; on this occasion, the 
memorable words, “ the Kingdom of Great-Britain and 
the French Republic cannot exist together This, I say, 
was the solemn declaration of the deputies and am¬ 
bassadors of Buonaparte himself, offering to the Di¬ 
rectory the first fruits of this first attempt at general 
pacification. 

So much for his disposition towards general 
pacification ; let us look next at the part he has taken 
in the different stages of the French revolution, and 
let us then judge whether we are to look to him, as the 
security against revolutionary principles ; let us deter¬ 
mine what reliance we can place oii his engagements 
with other countries; when we see how he has observed 
his engagements to his own. When the constitution 
of the third year was established under Barras, that con¬ 
stitution was imposed by the arms of Buonaparte, then 
commanding the Armj' of the Triumvirate in Paris. 
To that constitution he then swore fidelity. How often 
he has repeated the same oath I know not, but twice at 
least, we know that he has not only repeated it him¬ 
self, but tendered it to others, under circumstances too 
striking not to be stated. 

Sir, the House cannot have forgotten the revolu¬ 
tion of the 4 th of September, which produced the dis¬ 
missal of Lord Malmsbuly from Lisle. How was that 
revolution procured? It was procured chiefly by the 
promise of Buonaparte (in the name of his army), de¬ 
cidedly to support the Directory in those measures 
1 which. 


Ixxxii 


APPENDIX. 


which led to the infringement and violation of every 
thing that the authors of the constitution of 1795 , or its 
adherents, could consider as fundamental, and which 
established a system of despotism inferior only to that 
now realized in his own person. Immediately before 
this event, in the midst of the desolation and bloodshed 
of Italy, he had received the sacred present of new ban¬ 
ners from the Directory; he delivered them to his ar¬ 
my with this exhortation : “ Let us swear, fellow-sol- 
“ diers, by the names of the patriots who have died by 
* ( our side, eternal hatred to the enemies of the con- 
stitution of the third year.” That very constitution 
which he soon after enabled the Directory to violate, 
and which, at the head of his grenadiers, he has now 
finally destroyed. Sir, that oath was again renewed, 
in the midst of that very scene to which I have last re¬ 
ferred; the oath of fidelity to the constitution of the 
third year was administered to all the members of the 
Assembly then sitting (under the terror of the bayonet), 
as the solemn preparation for the business of the day; 
and the morning was ushered in with swearing attach¬ 
ment to the constitution, that the evening might close 
with its destruction. 

If we carry our views out of France, and look at 
the dreadful catalogue of all the breaches of treaty, all 
the acts of perfidy at which I have only glanced, and 
which are precisely commensurate w r ith the number of 
treaties which the republic has made; (for I have 
sought in vain for any one which it has made and which 
it has not broken) if we trace the history of them all 
from the begining of the revolution to the present 
time, or if w e select those which have been accompa¬ 
nied by the most atrocious cruelty, and marked the 
most strongly with the characteristic features of the re¬ 
volution. 


APPENDIX. 


Ixxxiii 


volution, the name of Buonaparte will be found allied 
to more of them than that of any other that can be 
handed down in the history of the crimes and miseries 
of the last ten years. His name will be recorded with 
the horrors committed in Italy, in the memorable 
campaign of 1796 and 1797 , in the Milanese, in Ge¬ 
noa, in Modena, in Tuscany, in Rome, and in Ve* 
nice. 

His entrance into Lombardy was announced by a 
solemn proclamation, issued on the 27 th of April, 1796 , 
which terminated with these words: “ Nations of Italy ! 
te the French army is come to break your chains, the 
C( French are the friends of the people in every country , 
<c your religion , your property , your customs, shall be 
<c respected .” This was followed by a second procla¬ 
mation, dated from Milan 20th of May and signed 
Buonaparte , in these terms ; “ Respect for property 
Ci and personal security: Respect for the religion of 
u countries: these are the sentiments of the govern- 
ce mcnt of the French Republic, and of the Army of 
<c Italy. The French victorious consider the nations 
“ of Lombardy as their brothers .” In testimony of 
this fraternity, and to fulfil the solemn pledge of re¬ 
specting property, this very proclamation imposed on 
the Milanese a provisional contribution to the amount 
of twenty millions of livres, or near one million ster¬ 
ling, and successive exactions were afterwards levied 
on that single state to the amount, in the whole, of 
near six millions sterling. The regard to religion and 
to the customs of the country was manifested with the 
same scrupulous fidelity. The churches were given 
up to indiscriminate plunder. Every religious and 
charitable fund, every public treasure, was confiscated. 
The country was made the scene ot every species of 

disorder 


lxxxiv 


APPENDIX. 


disorder and rapine. The priests, the established form 
of worship, ail the objects of religious reverence, 
were openly insulted by the French troops: at Pavia. 
particularly the tomb of St. Augustin , which the in¬ 
habitants were accustomed to view with peculiar vene¬ 
ration, was mutilated and defaced ; this last provoca¬ 
tion having roused the resentment of the people, they 
flew to arms, surrounded the French garrison and 
took them prisoners, but carefully abstained from of¬ 
fering any violence to a single soldier. In revenge, for 
this conduct, Buonaparte , then on his march to the 
Mincidy suddenly returned, collected his troops, and 
carried the extremity of military execution over the 
country; he burnt the town of Benasco and massacred 
eight hundred of its inhabitants ; he marched to Pavia , 
took it by storm, and delivered it over to general 
plunder, and published, at the same moment, a procla¬ 
mation, of the 26 th of May, ordering his troops to shoot 
all those who had not laid down their arms, and taken 
an oath of obedience, and to burn every village where 
the tocsin should be sounded, and to put its inhabitants 
fo death. 

The transactions with Modena were on a smaller 
scale, but in the same character. Buonaparte began 
by signing a treaty, by which the Duke of Modena 
was to pay twelve millions of livres, and neutrality 
was promised him in return ; this was soon followed 
by the personal arrest of the Duke and by a fresh 
extortion of two hundred thousand sequins ; after this 
he was permitted, on the payment of a farther sum, to 
sign another treaty, called a Convention de Surete , 
which of course was the only prelude to the repetition 
Of similar exactions. 


Nearly 


APPENDIX. 


1XXXV 


Nearly at the same period, in violation of the 
rights of neutrality and of the treaty which had been 
concluded between the French Republic and the Grand 
Duke of Tuscan}' in the preceding year, and in breach 
of a positive promise given only a few days before, tiie 
French army forcibly took possession of Leghorn, for 
the purpose of seizing the British property which 
was deposited there and confiscating it as prize ; and 
shortly after, when Buonaparte agreed to evacuate 
Leghorn in return for the evacuation of the Island 
of Elbe, which was in the possession of the British 
troops, he insisted upon a separate article, by which, 
in addition to tire plunder before obtained, by the in¬ 
fraction of the law of nations, it was stipulated, that 
the Grand Duke should pay to the French the ex¬ 
pense which they had incurred by thus invading his 
territory. 

In the proceedings towards Genoa we shall find 
pot only a continuation of the same system of extor¬ 
tion and plunder, (in violation of the solemn pledge 
contained in the proclamations already referred to,) 
but a striking instance of the revolutionary means em¬ 
ployed for the destruction of independent govern¬ 
ments. A French minister was at that time resident 
in Genoa, which was acknowledged by France to be 
in a state of neutrality and friendship : in breach of 
this neutrality Buonaparte began in the year 1796 , 
with the demand of a loan; he afterwards, from the 
month of September, required and enforced the pay¬ 
ment of a monthly subsidy, to the amount which he 
thought proper' to stipulate : these exactions were ac¬ 
companied by repeated assurances and protestations 
of friendship ; they were followed, in May, 1797 , by 


a con- 


Ixxxvi 


APPENDIX. 


a conspiracy against the government, fomented by tlie 
emissaries of the French embassy, and conducted by 
the partizans of France, encouraged, and afterwards 
protected by the French minister. The conspirators 
failed in their first attempt, overpowered by the 
courage and voluntary exertions of the inhabitants; 
their force was dispersed, and many of their number 
were arrested. Buonaparte instantly considered the 
defeat of the conspirators as an aet of aggression 
against the French Republic ; he dispatched an Aide- 
de-camp with an order to the Senate of this indepen¬ 
dent state ; first, to release all the French who were de¬ 
tained; secondly, to punish those who had arrested 
them ; thirdly, to declare that they had had no share 
in the insurrection; and fourthly, to disarm the people. 
Several French prisoners were immediately released, 
and a proclamation was preparing to disarm the inha¬ 
bitants, when, b} T a second note, Buonaparte required 
the arrest of the three Inquisitors of State, and im¬ 
mediate alterations in the constitution ; he accompa¬ 
nied this with an order to the French minister to 
quit Genoa, if his commands w r ere not immediately 
carried into execution; at the same moment his 
troops entered the territory of the republic, and 
shortly after the councils, intimidated and overpow¬ 
ered, abdicated their functions. Three deputies were 
then sent to Buonaparte to receive from him a new 
constitution ; on the 6th of June, after the confer¬ 
ences at Montebello , he signed a convention, or ra¬ 
ther issued a decree, by which he fixed the new form 
of their government; he himself named provisionally 
all the members who were to compose it, and he re¬ 
quired the payment of seven millions of livres, as 
the price of the subversion of their constitution, and 

their 


APPENDIX. 


Ixxxvii 


their independence. These transactions require but 
one short comment; it is to be found in the official 
account given of them at Paris, which is in these 
memorable Words': i( General Buonaparte has pursued 
u the only line of conduct which could be allowed in 
u the representative of a nation, which has supported 
“ the war onlj/ to procure the solemn acknowledgement 
“ of the right of nations, to change the form of their 
“ government. He contributed nothing towards the 
“ revolution of Genoa, but he seized the first mo- 
(i ment to acknowledge the new government, as soon 
“ as he saw that it was the result of the wishes of the 
i( people.”* 

It is unnecessary to dwell on the wanton attacks 
against Rome, under the directions of Buonaparte 
himself in the year 1796 , aftd in the beginning of 
1797 , which led first to the treaty of Tolentino con¬ 
cluded by Buonaparte, in which, by enormous sa¬ 
crifices, the Pope was allowed to puschase the ac¬ 
knowledgement of his authority, as a Sovereign Prince; 
and secondly, to the violation of that very treaty, 
and to the subversion of the Papal authority by Jo- 
seph Buonaparte, the brother and the agent of the 
General, and the Minister of the French Republic 
to the Holy See. A transaction, accompanied by 
outrages and insults towards the pious and venera¬ 
ble Pontiff (in spite of the sanctity of his age and 
the unsullied purity of his character) which even to 
a Protestant, seem hardly short of the guilt of 
sacrilege ! 

But 


* Redactcur OJficiet, June 30, 1797* 




ixxxviii APPENDIX* 

But of all the disgusting and tragical scenes which 
took place in Italy, in the course of the period 1 am 
describing, those which passed at Venice are perhaps 
the most striking, and the most characteristic: In 
May, 1796 , the French army, under Buonaparte, in 
the full tide of its success against the Austrians, first 
approached the territories of this republic, which from 
the commencement of the war had observed a rigid 
neutrality. Their entrance on these territories was as 
usual accompanied by a solemn proclamation in the 
name of their general. “ Buonaparte , to the republic 
£ £ of Venice. It is to deliver the finest country in Europe 
“ from the iron yoke of the proud house of Austria , 
<£ that the French army has braved obstacles the 
<£ most difficult to surmount. Victory in union with 
<£ justice has crowned fits efforts. The wreck of the 
<£ enemy’s army has retired behind the Mincio. Thu 
li French army, in order to follow them, passes over 
4 £ the territory of the republic of Venice ; but it 
££ will never forget, that ancient friendship unites tlx 
<£ (zoo republics . Religion , government , customs , and 
tl property^ shall be respected. Tiiat the people may 
££ be without apprehension, the most severe disei- 
6i pline shall be maintained. All that may be pro- 
£< vided for the army shall be faithfully paid for in 
<£ money. The general-in-chief engages the officers 
££ of the republic of Venice, the magistrates* and the 
<£ priests, to make known these sentiments to the 
<£ people, in order, that confidence may cement that 
£< friendship which has so long united the two na- 
i{ tions, faithful in the path of honor, as in that of 
* £ victory. The French soldier is terrible only to the 
8 enemies 


appendix. Ixxxix 

* £ enemies of his* liberty and his government.” Buo¬ 
naparte .* 

1 his proclamation was followed by exactions 
similar to those which were practised against Genoa, 
by the renewal of similar professions of friendship and 
the use of similar means to excite insurrection. At 
length, in the spring of 1797 , occasion was taken 
from disturbances thus excited, to forge, in the 
name of the Venetian Government, a proclamation^ 
hostile to France, and this proceeding was made the 
ground for military execution against the Country, 
and for effecting by force the subversion of its an¬ 
cient government and the establishment of the demo¬ 
cratic forms of the French Revolution. This revolu¬ 
tion was sealed by a treaty, signed in May, 1797 , 
between Buonaparte and Commissioners appointed 
on the part of the new and revolutionary govern¬ 
ment of Venice . By the second and third secret 
articles of this treaty, Venice agreed to give as a 
ransom, to secure itself against all farther exactions 
or demands, the sum of three millions of livres in 
money, the value of three millions more in articles 
of naval supply, and three ships of the line ; and it 
received in return the assurances of the friendship 
and support of the French Republic. Immediately 
after the signature of this treaty, the Arsenal, the 
Library, and the Palace of St. Mark were ransacked 
and plundered, and heavy additional contributions 
m were 


* Vide Debrett’s State Papers, vol. v. p. as. 

f Vide account of this transaction in the Proclamation of the 
Senate of Vcuice, April 12 , 1798.—Debrett’s State Papers, voL vi. 
<57. 4 



appendix 


were imposed upon its inhabitants. And, in not more 
than four months afterwards, this very Republic of 
Venice, united by alliance to France, the creature 
of Buonaparte himself, from whom it had received 
the present of French liberty, was by the same Buo¬ 
naparte transferred under the treaty of Campo For - 
mio to “ that iron yoke of the proud House of Aus¬ 
tria ,” to deliver it from which he had represented in 
liis first proclamation to be the great object of all his 
operations. 

. Sir, all this is followed by the memorable expe¬ 
dition into Egypt, which I mention, not merely be¬ 
cause it forms a principal article in the catalogue of 
those acts of violence and perfidy in which Buonaparte 
has been engaged ; not merely because it was an enter- 
prize peculiarly his own, of which he was himself the 
planner, the executor, and the betrayer; but chiefly 
because when from thence he retires to a different 
scene, to take possession of a new throne, from which 
he is to speak upon an equality with the Kings and 
Governors of Europe, he leaves behind him, at the 
moment of his departure, a specimen, which cannot 
be mistaken, of his principles of negotiation. The 
Intercepted Correspondence, which has been alluded 
to in this debate, seems to afford the strongest ground 
to believe, that his offers to the Turkish Government, 
to evacuate Egypt, were made solely with a view “ to 
(( gam time * that the ratification of any treaty on 
this subject was to be delayed with the view of finally 
eluding its performance, if any change of circumstances 
favorable to the French should occur in the interval. 


Vide “ Intercepted Letters from Egypt.” 


But 




APPENDIX. 


xci 

But whatever Gentlemen may think of the intention 
with which these offers were made, there will at least 
be no question with respect to the credit due to those 
professions by which he endeavoured to prove, in 
Egypt, his pacific dispositions. He expressly enjoins 
his successors, strongly and steadily to insist in all his 
intercourse with the Turks, that he came to Egypt 
with no hostile design, and that he never meant to 
keep possession of the country ; ‘ while on the opposite 
page of the same instructions, he states in the most 
unequivocal manner, his regret at the discomfiture of 
his favorite project of colonizing Egypt, and of main¬ 
taining it as a territorial acquisition. Nowq Sir, if in 
any note addressed to the Grand Vizier, or the Sultan, 
Buonaparte had claimed credit for the sincerity of his 
professions, that he forcibly invaded Egypt with no 
view hostile to Turkey, and solely for the purpose of 
molesting the British interests ; is there any one argu¬ 
ment now used to induce us to believe his present 
professions to us, which might not have been equally 
urged, on that occasion, to the Turkish government ? 
would not those professions have been equally sup¬ 
ported by solemn asseveration, by the same reference 
which is now r made to personal character, with this ; 
single difference, that they would then have been ac¬ 
companied with one instance less of that perfidy 
which we have had occasion to trace in this very 
transaction. 

It is unnecessary to say more with respect to the 
credit due to his professions, or the reliance to be 
placed on his general character : But it will, perhaps, 
be argued, that whatever may be his character, or 
whatever has been his past conduct, he has now r an in¬ 
terest in making and observing peace. That he has 
< m2 an 


APPENDIX, 


xcfi 

an interest in making peace is at best but a doubtful 
proposition, and that he has an interest in preserving 
it is still more uncertain. That it is his interest to 
negotiate, I do not indeed deny; it is his interest 
above all to engage this country in separate negotia¬ 
tion, in order to loosen and dissolve the whole system 
of the confederacy on the Continent, to palsy, at once, 
the arras of Russia or of Austria, or of any other 
country that might look to you for support; and then 
either to break off his separate treaty, or if he should 
have concluded it, to apply the lesson which is taught 
in his school of policy in Egypt; and to revive, at his 
pleasure, those claims of indemnification which piay 
have been reserved to sorne happier period *. 

This is precisely the interest which he has in ne- 
gotiation, but on what grounds are we to be convinced 
that he has an interest in concluding and observing 
a solid and permanent pacification ? Under all the cir* 
cumstances of his personal character, and his newly- 
acquired pov er, what other security has he for retain¬ 
ing that power by the sword ? JTis hold upon France 
is the sword, and he has no other. Is he connected 
with the soil, or with the habits, the affections, or the 
prejudices of the country ? He is a Stranger, a Fo¬ 
reigner, and an Usurper ; he unites in his own person 
every thing that a pure Republican must detest; every 
thing that an enraged Jacobin has abjured; every 
thing that a sincere and faithful Rpyalist must feel as 
an insult. If he is opposed at any time in his career, 
what is his appeal ? He appeals to his fortune ; in 
other words, to his army and his sword. Placing, 


then* 


f Vide Intercepted Letters from Egypt/ 



APPENDIX. 


xciii 


then, his whole reliance upon military support, can he 
afford to let his military renown pass away, to let his 
laurels wither, to let the memory of his achievements 
sink into obscurity ? Is it certain that,' with his army 
confined within France, and restrained from inroads 
upon her neighbours, he can maintain, at his devo¬ 
tion, a force sufficiently numerous to support his 
power ? Having no object but the possession of ab¬ 
solute dominion, no passion but military glory, is it 
certain, that he will feel such an interest in perma¬ 
nent peace, as would justify us in lajdng down our 
arms, reducing our expense, and relinquishing our 
means of security, on the faith of his engagements ? 
Do we believe, that after the conclusion of peace, he 
would not still sigh over the lost trophies of Egypt, 
wrested from him by the celebrated victory of Aboukir, 
and the brilliant exertions of that heroic band of Bri¬ 
tish seamen, whose influence and example rendered the 
Turkish troops invincible at Acre? Can he forget, 
that the effect of these exploits enabled Austria and 
Russia, in one campaign, to recover from France, all 
which she had acquired by his victories, to dissolve 
the charm, which, for a time, fascinated Europe, and 
to shew that their generals, contending in a just cause, 
could efface, even by their success, and their military 
glory, the most dazzling triumphs of his victorious and 
desolating ambition ? 

Can we believe, with these impressions on his 
mind, that, if after a year, eighteen months, or two 
years, of peace had elapsed, he should be tempted by 
the appearance of a fresh insurrection in Ireland, en¬ 
couraged by renewed and unrestrained communication 
with France, and fomented by the fresh infusion of 
Jacobin principles; if we were at such a moment 

without 


XC1V 


APPENDIX, 


without a fleet to watch the ports of France, or to 
guard the coasts of Ireland, without a disposeable army, 
or an embodied militia, capable of supplying a speedy 
and adequate reinforcement, and that he had suddenly 
the means of transporting thither a body of twenty or 
thirty thousand French troops : can we believe, that 
at sueh a moment his ambitious and vindictive spirit 
would be restrained by the recollection of engage¬ 
ments* or the obligation of treaty ? Or, if iri some 
new crisis of difficulty and danger to the Ottoman 
Empire, with no British navy in the Mediterranean, 
no confederacy formed, no force collected to sup¬ 
port it, an opportunity should present itself for re¬ 
suming the abandoned expedition to Egypt, for re¬ 
newing the avowed and favorite project of conquer¬ 
ing and colonizing that rich and fertile countiy, and 
of opening the way to wound some of the vital in¬ 
terests of England, and to plunder the treasures of the 
East, in order to fill the bankrupt coffers of France, 
would it be the interest of Buonaparte, under such ciis 
cumstances, or his principles, his moderation, his love 
of peace, his aversion to conquest, and his regard for 
the independence of other nations,—would it be all, 
or any of these, that would secure us against an 
attempt, which would leave us only the option of 
submitting without a struggle to certain loss and dis¬ 
grace, or of renewing the contest which we had pre¬ 
maturely terminated, and renewing it without allies, 
without preparation, with diminished means, &nd with 
Increased difficulty and hazard ? 


APPENDIX. 


XCV 


‘ Mr. FOX. 

February 1 5 th, 1796. 

Rather than continue the war for another cam¬ 
paign, independent of the moral reasons against its 
prolongation, I would not , unquestionably, give up 
our honour, our dignity, or our liberty, which, ’till I -die, 
I trust I shall never fail to assert; but, I would give 
up all questions of etiquette and accommodation, and 
in fact, every thing short of what most nearly con¬ 
cerns our character. Let it not be understood that I 
wish for a dishonourable peace, but I am sanguine 
enough to think, that even yet this country may have 
fair and honourable terms of peace. The governors 
of France dare not refuse any reasonable terms which 
we may offer; if they do, others will soon be ap¬ 
pointed in their place, who will accept of them when 
peace shall be proposed. I hope and trust, however, 
that it will not be proposed on the dividing system, 
and that this country will never give its sanction to 
any such transaction as the infamous partition of Po¬ 
land. Dearly as I love peace, and anxiously as I wish 
for it, that such a peace may never prevail I most 
heartily pra} r . I hope when peace shall arrive, that 
the interests of humanity as well as of Kings, and that 
of every particular state will be consulted, and that tran¬ 
quillity will be established on the broad basis of justice, 
in answer to the prayers of mankind, who are now 
fatigued with war, slaughter, and devastation. 


LORD 



xcvi 


APPENDIX. 


LORD HAWKESBtTRY. 

April 10 th> 1794. 

Mr. Jcnkinson (now Lord Hawkesbury) declared, 
That there was no expedition which had been planned 
by the British cabinet but what had been eminently 
successful. Ife had no difficulty in saying that the 
marching to Paris was attainable and practicable , and 
he } for one , would recommend such an expedition . 

February 2Sth, 1801, 

Lord Hawkesbury said, The present government 
of France stood upon no principles; the former go¬ 
vernments, bad and dangerous as they were, yet were 
founded on republican principles, but the present had 
nothing to support it. There was not a man in 
France, whether royalist or republican, could possibly 
be attached to it; all parties must be hostile to it, and 
the French nation must see with regret and indignation 
their rulers deposed by an artful and daring Corsican 
Adventurer . 


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